“Beyond learning outcomes, isn’t experiencing a rich community, and having a role in building and maintaining that community, and watching adult role models build and maintain that community, a useful outcome for a young person?”–Rick Perlstein, Chicagoan

This site is intended to tell the story of every school in the Chicago Public Schools that will be directly affected by school closing, consolidation, turnaround, and co-location actions this year.  School actions are harmful and disruptive to students, schools, and communities.  They do not save money or improve student educational outcomes.  The mass closings this year will affect 47,490 students.  Almost 4,000 are homeless, and over 7,000 have IEPs; more than 1/4 of all African-American children (ages 5-14) in Chicago will be directly impacted by these closings.

Contributors include Paula Baron, Noah Berlatsky, Jennie Biggs, Anne Carlson, Erica Clark, Cassie Creswell, Shanti Elliot, Ellen Gradman, Sheila Graven, Will Guzzardi, Leah Harp, Hannah Hayes, Diane Horwitz, Wendy Katten, Kate Kindleberger, Janet Meegan, Maria Moser, Laura Nessler, Rebecca Nolan, Bob Simpson, Kim Smolen, Naomi Tovar, and Don Washington.

We continue to welcome collaborators to this project—whether you are a teacher, parent, staff, student, alumni, or community member of an affected school who wants to tell or have their school’s story told, or someone who would like to show their solidarity with the lives and communities that will be disrupted as a result of mass closings.  If you have additions or edits to the post about your school, please let us know.

Please contact Cassie Creswell at cassie.creswell @ gmail.com for more information.

(Artwork courtesy of Ellen Gradman.  Download variations and larger sizes here.)