CPS Set To Vote on Controversial Englewood School Closures
The Chicago Board of Education will vote Wednesday on closing four high schools in Englewood and one elementary school on the Near South Side. Chicago Public Schools officials say the schools are underperforming and under-enrolled, but community activists and students at the schools opposing the closures say they’re an attack on communities of color and support for the plan has come from community outsiders who stand to benefit financially from them. “The CTU and public education advocates charge that CPS policies are essentially starving Black and Brown school communities, fomenting a downward cycle of slashed resources and enrollment,” wrote the Chicago Teacher’s Union in a press release. “The strategy is accelerating a sweeping push-out of Black and Brown working class families from neighborhoods like Englewood, Austin, Pilsen and other communities.” (WBEZ)