Chicago Closing School

Imagine going to a school your whole life. A school you enjoyed with your friends and were excited to go to every morning. Now, imagine being told that school was being shut down and you had to go to a different school with different people. This is the reality thousands of kids in Chicago are facing today. The Chicago Public School system (CPS) has announced the closing of numerous inefficient elementary schools and even a high school in the Chicago area. This has lead to one of the biggest controversies going on in the country today. Many parents are worried that their children will not benefit from the closings on an academic level, and will surely face more violence and gang related incidences. The CPS promises that with the closings of
Ahmed-Ullah, facing a budget deficit of one billion dollars, the CPS has made the decision of closing just under fifty elementary schools and one high school. With these closings the CPS estimates they will save between $500,000 and $800,000 from each school per year (Guarino, 2013, 1). Despite the savings in money and decrease in deficit, parents are infuriated. They fear the worst for their kids and believe they will be susceptible to gang violence by going to a new, further away school. Nikkia Pierce, a mother of two relocated children, said, “I’ll home-school both of my children before they go to Jensen (designated relocated school), it’s sad that they really don’t care about these kids” (Ahmed-Ullah. 3). Students of closing schools aren’t taking well to the new plans of the CPS either and are completely disregarding what they say. Another article After closings, kids shun schools picked by CPS by Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah of the Chicago Tribune states, “Almost half the youngsters most affected by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s school shutdowns did not enroll this fall in the new schools where officials planned for them to go, records from Chicago Public Schools show.” The new schools the children are designated to go to are referred to as “welcoming schools.” Hundreds of millions of dollars were put into renovations and upgrades for these welcoming schools in order to take
The aspect of value is called into question. Is decreasing the budget deficit more important than what is best for the children? One may determine that the CPS should have done one of the other effective methods rather than closing down these schools. However, it may not be the case that using one of those other methods would save the CPS as much money as the closings do. Another aspect that must be considered is definition. When one is asking if the closings are the best solution for the children, one should define what “best” means. Best can mean what is better for the child academically; best can also mean what is safer for the child. This is where parents and the CPS begin their controversy over which is more important: the child or the