Photo: George N. Schmidt

By Julie Woestehoff

During the night and on into the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004, a determined band of Chicago Public School (CPS) parents and community activists camped at the front door of school board headquarters. We wanted to be first in line to sign up to testify against Renaissance 2010 at the monthly Board of Education meeting where the plan was up for consideration.

As the day dawned, more than 300 protesters joined us. They marched up and down the sidewalk, filled the hearing rooms, and stood in solidarity with each of the nearly 40 speakers as we made our presentations. One parent called the plan an "academic holocaust." Others accused the board of disrespect, of pitting communities against one another, and of risking the lives of children.

Why are we so stirred up? Parent and community anger over Renaissance 2010 has focused mainly on the heavy-handed way Chicago Public Schools has been closing neighborhood schools with little concern for the disruption it causes families and communities. Each school closing disbands a local school council (LSC), our locally elected, parent-majority governing bodies that have the authority to hire principals and approve the school budgets.

When Mayor Daley announced the Renaissance 2010 plan, parents and community residents began to step up our opposition to the school closures and lack of input from the community.

First we did our homework. We learned about the significant damage student mobility can cause. A 1996 study of our own CPS students by University of Chicago researcher David Kerbow found that, even after controlling for socioeconomic status, mobile students on average have lower student achievement scores than their stable counterparts. His research shows that over a period of six years, students who have moved more than three times can fall a full academic year behind stable students. CPS has already put hundreds of children at risk by forced school moves, even before the Renaissance 2010 plan. For example, CPS closed Einstein Elementary in 2000 and sent its students to the Donahue school. CPS closed Donahue in 2003 and sent those students to Doolittle East and West schools. Doolittle West was one of the 10 schools closed this past June; its children were sent to Fuller or Doolittle East. And CPS plans to close both these schools before 2006 under Renaissance 2010.