Comments like this are useless. It’s like “raise the minimum wage to round figure of $X” w/out explaining what would be too high; if not, then why not $X+1,000?
A. Process for closing was horrible
B. Some of those schools shouldn’t have closed
C. This one probably should have…
A. Process for closing was horrible
B. Some of those schools shouldn’t have closed
C. This one probably should have…
…Stewart school once had about 1,300 students. It was down to 250 (it was K-8). A school a 1/2 mile away had a similar population decline. Stewart had no AC, and needed massive repairs. And the neighborhood around it wasn’t so much working class as it was hipster…
…the population was about half non-hispanic white, clustered from 20-50, mostly single without kids. Stewart was mostly black, but that’s in part because the population of 5-17 was almost entirely black, and the 5-17 pop was lower than almost every other Chicago neighborhood…
…Should Stewart have been turned in to lux apartments vs other use? Maybe not. Did the city get fair value when it sold the school? Dunno. But Chicago has lost 1m people over the last few decades, & not all schools should be kept open. Now, the other school 1/2 mile away…
…[built to relieve crowding at Stewart in the 1960’s] has a population similar to what Stewart had; overwhelmingly black & poor. But it’s around IL average on test scores, & above average in kids’ improvement year to year. There may be problems I don’t know about, but…
…they’re not obvious here like they were RE a lot of the schools that were closed on the south side.
Glib lefty-ism may be fun for some people. But it’s usually intellectually shallow & not very engaged w facts. That tweet by the Jacobin guy is a great example.
Glib lefty-ism may be fun for some people. But it’s usually intellectually shallow & not very engaged w facts. That tweet by the Jacobin guy is a great example.
BTW, there’s a lot that’s screwed up about Chicago public schools. But I’m coming to the conclusion that what is good—& there’s a lot—comes disproportionately from the teachers. CPS teachers are really committed to their mission, and very good at what they do.
Will has some thoughts to add:
