CPS hints at consolidation for new S. Side high school
Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson on Wednesday laid the groundwork for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s controversial plan to close a handful of South Side high schools to make way for a new $ 75 million high school in Englewood.
“We have about 15 high schools that are underenrolled with less than 200 students, and seven of them are located in the Englewood area or surrounding area,” Jackson said after joining the mayor at Malcolm X College to announce a new high school graduation requirement.
“So we’re talking to the community, and we’re really taking their direction on this. We have not had a chance to sit down and meet with them since they attended our last board meetings. But we’re looking forward to doing that in the coming weeks,” she said.
Jackson was asked whether all seven of those underenrolled high schools would be closed to remove what has become a drain on a broke public school system.
“We’ve got to talk to the community. Right now, as the mayor said, there’s a moratorium on school closings. But we look forward to speaking with the community and seeing what they want for their community,” she said.
Pressed on whether area residents would be willing to swallow high school closings in exchange for a shiny new high school, Jackson said: “Only time will tell.”
Emanuel was even less forthcoming when asked about how many high schools would have to be sacrificed to make way for a brand new one in Englewood.
“First of all, we went through a consolidation [ by closing 50 schools]. As you know, we put in place a moratorium,” the mayor said.
“If you’re trying to talk specifically about the discussions we’re having, we’re involved in the community process right now in Englewood and I’m not gonna prejudge that discussion,” he said.
In a statement Wednesday night, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said: “The mayor and his handpicked cast of school killers are proposing new obstacles to high school graduation with zero resources. And once again, he’s proposing a new round of school closings in one of the most violent spaces in this city. He continues to prove that he has zero capacity for sound and compassionate leadership. He’s gone from bad to worse.”
The Sun- Times reported in December that several South Side high schools would be on the chopping block to make way for a new neighborhood high school in Englewood.
CPS has set aside about $ 75 million it has borrowed for construction projects for what it’s calling a “Southside High School” at an undis- closed location.
But sources told the SunTimes that Englewood would be home to the new school. The building — the first new CPS neighborhood high school construction in many years — would probably be built not far from the new Whole Foods at 63rd and Halsted, across the street from Kennedy- King College.
In late February, Emanuel publicly acknowledged that he plans to build a high school in Englewood as part of his “holistic” strategy to fight crime by rebuilding long- neglected neighborhoods.
The following day, Ald. Roderick Sawyer ( 6th), the chairman of the City Council’s Black Caucus, urged CPS to come clean about how many South Side high schools it intends to close to make way for the new high school.
Citing safety concerns, Emanuel spared high schools from the 2013 round of school closings that targeted a record 50 schools in predominantly black neighborhoods on the South and West sides.
High school consolidations could be addressed after a five- year school closing moratorium expires in the fall of 2018.