Fourteen Chicago public schools will be either closed, consolidated or undergo extensive personnel overhaul this year, officials said today.
The latest moves are part of the system’s continuing efforts to shut down and consolidate failing and under-enrolled schools.
Four schools–Las Casas, McCorkle Elementary, Prescott Elementary and Paderewski Elementary-will be closed due to inadequate facilities and low enrollment.
Another four schools will be consolidated into nearby facilities. These are Marconi Elementary, Curtis Elementary, Guggenheim Elementary and Mollison Elementary.
One school, Schneider Elementary, will be phased out.
Five schools in the district will be the subject of turnaround operations. That means staff will be fired and a new operator will come in to run the school.
Two elementary schools, Gillespie and Bradwell, will be operated by the successful Academy of Urban School Leadership. A third, Deneen, will be run by the office of school turnarounds at Chicago Public Schools.
Two chronically underperforming high schools will be turned around, Phillips High School by AUSL and Marshall High by the district office.
School closings have been immensely unpopular since the district began shutting down facilities several years ago when Arne Duncan, now U.S. secretary of education, led the system.
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