For many years, parents and education activists in Chicago have warned that the deliberate destruction of neighborhood public schools was causing a rise in violence. The city, first under Arne Duncan, now under Rahm Emanuel, ignored the critics, and made a virtue of closing public schools, opening charter schools, and sending kids long distances to new schools. Mayor Emanuel recognized that the critics' complaints had some validity. He didn't stop the school closings-in fact, he closed 50 public schools in a single day, an unprecedented action in American history. But to assuage the critics, he established "safe passages," supposedly to assure students' safety as they adapted to new and longer routes to their new schools. In 2013, a student was raped while walking to school on a "safe passage" route.
Nonetheless, murders and violence in Chicago are at a 20-year high this year.
Arne Duncan expressed his sorrow about the spike in violence, but still sees no connection between his policies as City Superintendent and Secretary of Education and the nasty consequences of destabilizing neighborhoods and communities.
Duncan was first to use school closings as "reform." The first school he closed and restaffed was Dodge Elementary School. He was proud of Dodge, which was his first turnaround. When President Obama announced that he was appointing Duncan as Secretary of Education in 2008, he did the announcement at Dodge. The president said Duncan had the "courage" to close the school and start over. A few years later, Dodge was rated a failing school and closed again.
Opening schools, closing schools, breaking up neighborhoods and communities. Making children walk through unfamiliar neighborhoods and gang territory to get to school. Not a recipe for safety or success.
