Corey Brandt
“I agree they should stop closing schools and open more. Find more outlets for the kids, instead of funding the Olympics we need education for our children. The Olympics is only a few weeks and it is not that important the mayor is looking for a scapegoat and that is not it, educating our children should be first and foremost.”
Chinyere Little
“I would have to say I’m kind of on the fence with that. Part of me feels with my children – I have school age children – I wouldn’t want my children’s school to close. If it is an underachieving school, I would love for reform to come in and to change and begin to move the school in a new direction with the leadership. However, at the same time I do feel as though in some cases, if it is an underachieving school after so long where they have had different reform measures, where the school board has been changed, where the teaching council and the parent council have stood and said ok we’ve tried all we can so it is time to close the school. I think that it would be advantages to explore another option for the children if it is not helping where they are.”
Donald Dixon
“I believe if you close the schools you are going to have a very bad problem. It is going to be more serious than what it is. We see all the things going on both on the South Side and West Side with all the crime and killings. It is only going to get worse if you don’t give kids something to do. You are taking away their future and education, and you are just creating a problem for the future. So, I think it is time to give back and take some of that tax money and fund the schools.”
Tony Jones
“I do thing there should be a moratorium for the simple fact that we have a lot of school closings already. We have nowhere for the kids to go. We have nothing for these kids to do. We have no programs and no after school programs. So, closing schools will just send them back out into the streets. You will only send them back out into society where you don’t want them. If you are trying to uplift a community and trying to better the community, closing schools is not one of things you would want to do.”
Patricia Elliot
“I do believe there should be a moratorium on Chicago school closings. First of all they should not be closing any of the schools that they are closing. The politicians and the aldermen in our community, the people on the Chicago Public School Board should keep the schools open. They should open more schools and expand the schools, and provide computers and technology like the suburban schools. What they are trying to do is really going to dishearten the students that we have already and keep the other children from going to school and only end up getting into trouble. We are loosing too many of our children as it is.”
Ebonie Williams
“I agree we do not need anymore school closings. The children are already in the streets and we have a lot of kids dropping out of school. Also, I would like to bring up the issue of are they providing bus service for the kids where the schools have closed. Parents have to figure out how to get them there and get them home when they are moved out of a district. There is also the problem of children fighting when they are moved to a new school. So, we don’t need anymore school closings.”
