Keep watching for updates as plans come together!

The struggle continues!

Rep. Cynthia Soto's HB 0363 putting a one-year moratorium on school closings PASSED the House Education committee on Thursday Feb19th...an important step in the process! It next goes to the House floor, then to the Senate.

GEM (Grassroots Education Movement) people (including parents) came from Chicago and met w/ reps yesterday, then a number of people testified this morning at the committee meeting. A partial victory!

See the press release from Designs for Change, a GEM member.

Two studies were released on Tuesday Feb 17th at a GEM press conference.  They can be found below at the Collaborative for Equity and Justice in Education website.

The first critiques CPS school closing criteria, examines patterns of gentrification and school closings, and has three case studies of schools to be closed (turn-around, phased out). The second analyzes ACT scores of charter and neighborhood high schools, and looks at differences in the student bodies.

1)  Examining CPS' plan to close, phase out, consolidate, turn-around 22 schools

2)  The Charter Difference: A Comparison of Chicago Charter and Neighborhood High Schools