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Digging Deeper: More informationMost students won’t go to better schools.The vast majority of students from closing schools are transferred to receiving schools that are struggling just as much as or worse than the schools that closed.
Closures won’t save the district big bucks.Closing schools is expensive. Officials have to pay to relocate and store inventory; transport students to new schools; renovate receiving schools to accommodate the influx of new students; reassess, fix up, and maintain or demolish closed school buildings. It can particularly difficult to sell closed school properties because they are often in economically disadvantaged areas with little investment, which forces the city to continue maintaining the properties.
These aren’t empty schools.In determining the optimal number of students in a given school, education officials employ a double standard in terms of classroom “utilization.” Despite the documented benefits of small class sizes, a public school with 15-20 students per classroom can be labeled “underutilized,” while private schools (to which many politicians send their children) and charters just a few blocks away can pride themselves on having small class sizes.
Closures do have a big impact – on everyone.School closings impact and disrupt whole communities.
Want to take action? Here’s what to do.Read up on the alternatives. You can’t improve schools by closing them – here’s what we should be doing instead to support and turn around struggling schools.Find out if there's a local organizing group in your community fighting school closures. Contact the Journey for Justice coalition and Alliance for Educational Justice, or send us an email. Share this infographic on Facebook and Twitter. And view and share our previous infographic, “The Color of School Closures."
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The Color of School Closures
Posted on: Tuesday April 23rd, 2013
Mass school closings have become a hallmark of today's
dominant education policy agenda. But rather than helping students,
these closures disrupt whole communities. And as U.S. Department of
Education data suggests, the most recent rounds of mass closings in
Chicago, New York City and Philadelphia disproportionately hurt Black
and low-income students.
What can you do to end these discriminatory and unacceptable school closures?
What is the alternative to closing schools? Evidence-based policies that provide students, schools and communities with the opportunities and resources they need to succeed, including:
Here are just a few of the many groups organizing against school closures in the cities highlighted in the infographic. If your organization is doing anti-closures work, let us know and we'll add it!
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Welcome to the Education Blog of Carla Ranger - Former District 6 Trustee - Dallas Independent School District - DISD