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<FONT FACE="Palatino"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:14.0px'>Food for thought with Providence doing this. Greg gerritt<BR>
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INNER CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS BEING CLOSED ACROSS THE LAND<BR>
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DIANE BUKOWSKI, NNPA - From Detroit to San Francisco, Chicago to<BR>
Baltimore, a tidal wave of school closings, usually in large, poor<BR>
urban districts, has washed over the country. In many cases, the<BR>
closings have wreaked havoc and met with little resistance, but other<BR>
communities are fighting back, in some cases calling for complete<BR>
moratoriums on school closings and demanding additional "equivalent"<BR>
funding for poor districts.<BR>
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- Chicago: Mayor Richard Daley's "Renaissance 2010" campaign has<BR>
called for closing 100 schools by 2010. A 2006 article in the Chicago<BR>
Sun Times said closings which have taken place so far have resulted in<BR>
an increase in violent incidents at the schools which are left as<BR>
those from the closed schools flood in. A 1996 study showed that<BR>
students who have been moved from other schools also have lower<BR>
student achievement scores than their stable counterparts.<BR>
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The Chicago teachers union and community organizations have slowed the<BR>
closings through persistent mass protests. Additionally, Black and<BR>
Latino state legislators there have drafted legislation providing a<BR>
way for voters to keep their schools open, and additionally threatened<BR>
to withhold construction funding for the district.<BR>
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Chicago Alderman Michael Chandler has campaigned for a city ordinance<BR>
that would halt school closings entirely until a study is conducted on<BR>
how children displaced by closings are doing in their new schools. . .<BR>
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- New York City: In 2001, a New York court ruled that the state was<BR>
violating its own constitution which guarantees every child the right<BR>
to a "sound basic education," by failing to provide "equivalent<BR>
funding" for New York City's children, 62 percent of whom live in<BR>
poverty. In 2002, a higher court ordered the state to come up with<BR>
$5.6 billion in additional funding for NYC schools. Republican<BR>
Governor George Pataki appealed, a hearing was held in November, and<BR>
results are still pending. . .<BR>
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Additionally, New Yorkers for Smaller Class Size are petitioned for a<BR>
ballot referendum requiring immediate reductions in class size. New<BR>
York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg blocked the referendum in court, and<BR>
that appeal is also pending.<BR>
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- Baltimore: The Baltimore Education Advocates, a coalition of groups,<BR>
is campaigning for a moratorium on school closings. . .<BR>
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- Seattle: Strong public opposition forced Seattle Superintendent Raj<BR>
Manhas to drop plans to close schools in 2004, but he came back with a<BR>
proposal to close ten schools in 2006, aided by a 14-member advisory<BR>
committee of executives from the business, finance, communication and<BR>
education arena. He talked the board into supporting the closures. . .<BR>
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- San Francisco: A school board decision to close or merge 14 schools<BR>
in 2006 resulted in rallies in front of the central office, petitions<BR>
by families to start their own district, and a one-day attendance<BR>
boycott at one of the<BR>
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<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Hot+Stories&NewsID=11944">http://blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Hot+Stories&NewsID=11944</a></U></FONT><BR>
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