Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

[Gotmadskillzson]

http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/school_utilization/#school-list

I'm a sad panda. My elementary school Depriest is on the list, along with Emmett, the school my older sister and older cousins went to. Kind of weird they spent millions of dollars remodeling a lot of those schools on that list 7 years ago. For my school Depriest, they literally razed both buildings to the ground and rebuilt a much bigger single building on the same spot.

Sad panda I tell ya. Had a lot of memories at Depriest. Back then when I was a kid it was K to 6. Now it is K to 8th. Those 2 schools were feeder schools to Austin High School. If they close both Depriest and Emmett, Austin High school going to be next on the chopping block.

Going to be a hell of a lot kids being bused out of their neighbor to go to school next year.

[ScoobySnax]

129 schools? Man, that's pretty sad. Our public school system continues to go down the toilet. Sooner or later, we're going to have 60-70 students to a teacher. How in the world will kids learn like that? How will teachers control a classroom that size? SMH.

[snepp]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

We've got hundreds of millions of dollars to give away to billionaire corporations and sports teams though.


Yea for priorities!

[Redacted01]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

Guess they are starting college prep at age 6 now. Maybe they are hiring drill sergeants to teach the munchkins.

[War Eagle!]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

This place is about to crash and burn.

[Knight165]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

We've got hundreds of millions of dollars to give away to billionaire corporations and sports teams though.


Yea for priorities!

Doesn't the Chicago school system receive funds from Illinois ...who in turn gets the monies from the federal government?

M.K.
Knight165

[roadman]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

Doesn't the Chicago school system receive funds from Illinois ...who in turn gets the monies from the federal government?

M.K.
Knight165

As a sidelight, and maybe Illinois folks can concur, I thought I've heard and read that the state of Illinois is broke.

[jeremym480]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

Where will all the hot model teachers teach?

[JODYE]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

As a sidelight, and maybe Illinois folks can concur, I thought I've heard and read that the state of Illinois is broke.

Yep, pretty much.

[NDAlum]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

http://www.illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=5040

This is likely a large part. I wonder if Chicago found a loophole in the contract with unions. They can't lay teachers off but they can shut down schools...

*I'm just speculating*

Also lol @ 40% dropout rate. That's not a problem with teachers. That's a problem with the culture within Chicago.

[mgoblue]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

There's usually a lot of overbuilding with booms when it comes to schools. The district my parents went to got huge in the 50's-70's but had a downturn in the 90's and ended up closing some of the schools. Possibly due to bigger schools having room for more kids, along with people having less kids than baby boomer age?

[NDAlum]

There has also been an exodus from the Midwest due to the change in job market. The decline in population paired with the dropout rate could be the main factors.

In NC officers roam streets and find kids who are skipping school. They are then taken to school. I am guessing schools get funding based on the school attendance population.

[AUChase]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

Even where I'm from, they closed three feeder schools in the County that were all K-8. It's happening in a lot of places, just on a smaller scale.

The school I went to was K-12 and has made expansions and remodels to the elementary, middle, and high school along with new baseball fiels and a new gym that's standalone (the previous gym was connection to the school)..

They should be able to handle the extra kids from the feeder schools. When they get to 8th grade, they have to go to another school anyways.

Getting a degree for education is risky these days, unless you know someone or know exactly what you're doing. They are dropping teachers left and right, even some who have been teaching for years.. very unfortunate.

[JODYE]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

In fact the teachers with a longer tenure are usually the first to go, mainly because they cost more to retain.

[ehh]

Re: Chicago closing 129 elementary schools

How many total elementary schools are in the city? What percentage is this that's closing?