From WBEZ by Becky Vevea:
At the same time Chicago Public Schools says it needs to close down schools, maybe as many as 100, its planning to open brand new ones.
In a promotional video for a new high school called Intrinsic, illustrations of the citys skyline and the EL tracks swirl around cartoon students. The students tout their teachers credentials and brag about the projects theyre working on.
The teachers at Intrinsic are great, says the cartoon boy. Theyve worked at schools like Walter Payton and Whitney Young.
Intrinsic is not open yet. Its one of at least 17 new schools the district wants to open next fall. Fourteen charter and contract schools, run by outside groups and three district-run high schools. (See complete list at the end of this article.)
CPS leaders say 136 schools are half empty. Most of those schools are on the south and west sides of the city. School officials argue it doesnt make sense to keep running those schools, because it costs money to keep the lights on and school resources get spread too thin.
They say if they consolidate, or right-size, they can spend more money on the buildings they do keep openadding air-conditioning, art and music, all the things people say are missing right now.
But why would the district open schools when it says it has too many already?
We also need to be strategic and ensure that we are doing everything we can to immediately expand access to high quality school options for parents in every community, said CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll.
Carroll also points to areas of the city where classrooms are overcrowdedthe heavily Latino north and west sides of the city. She says CPS may need to build or open new schools in those areas.
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