Chalkbeat's journalism is made possible by our sponsors.
Interested in becoming one? Reach out here.
|
Hello!
This is Mila Koumpilova, one of the reporters at Chalkbeat here in Chicago. For years, school closures have been a toxic topic for Chicago’s district and city leaders on the heels of the deeply unpopular 2013 shuttering of roughly 50 elementary schools. Last year, we wrote a story with our friends at ProPublica about how determined officials have been to dodge broaching the issue even as declining enrollment and severely underenrolled schools have posed academic and fiscal challenges.
The issue is coming to a head in districts across the country. Philadelphia has a contentious plan to close 17 schools, including five high schools, next school year — and officials there are arguing the move will address the scarcity of course offerings at really small schools. (Last spring, I spoke with a Chicago high school student who faced retaking a yearbook class for the third time because of how few choices she had at her small school.) But Philly families remain skeptical, and they have said they want to see more details about how merging schools would strengthen academic offerings.
In any case, this once taboo topic is increasingly front and center in Chicago’s school board races, including at a forum my colleague Reema covered earlier this week.
Local education coverage is disappearing. Chalkbeat helps families and educators understand what’s changing. We can’t do it without you.
Around Chalkbeat
Many Philadelphia high schools offer students few class options. Will closing schools change that?
Indiana school voucher use has flipped from low-income families to more high-income families using them
Michigan chronic absenteeism falls again, but more than 1 in 4 students miss too much school
|
What We’re Reading
The end of literacy isn’t here … yet, USA Today (Opinion)
He rebuilt his city’s devastated schools. Then came the backlash, The New York Times Magazine (Paywall)
|