CPS votes to close four Englewood high schools

[VIDEO] Yesterday the Chicago Board of Education voted to close four Englewood high schools. As you see in the video above we see the activists and the youth being fired up over the actions by the schools. The four schools in Englewood - Harper, Hope, Team Englewood, and Robeson - were to be closed due to decreasing enrollment for a new high school to be built were Robeson High School currently stands at 6835 S. Normal.

Here's an article from the Sun-Times

BREAKING: CPS board votes to close Englewood high schools, elementary school in South Loop, @bylaurenfitz reports. https://t.co/ae7keKfoPm #CPSboard pic.twitter.com/jKz1QKrx86

— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) February 28, 2018

And a brief excerpt:

Despite emotional opposition, Chicago’s Board of Education voted Wednesday on the first school closings since 2013, a historic measure that also affected primarily African-American schools.

All six current school board members voted to permanently close Harper, Hope, Robeson and Team Englewood high schools, the last four neighborhood schools in that South Side community. Former principal Gail Ward abstained from voting to close National Teachers Academy elementary school, which will gradually be turned into a high school for the booming South Loop.

 The closings, based on what CPS called “community support,” are likely a sign of what’s to come in the near future for the district’s many other schools hollowed out by shrinking enrollment overall combined with the addition of new schools. A five-year moratorium imposed to allow the 2013 closings ends in June.

Since CPS allocates money to schools per student, the Englewood high schools’ enrollments have plunged too far to offer a full courseload. After Robeson closes in June, a state-of-the-art high school will be built on its campus, 6835 S Normal Blvd. The new $85 million school will open in the fall of 2019 to 9th graders.

Here are some additional tweets with regards to today's closings in Englewood.

More fundings to Chicago Englewood schools, not closings..

— 🅛🅞🅥🅔 (@Before1619) March 1, 2018

The voting by CPS to close four high schools in Englewood is very troubling. Young Urban Underprivileged youth in the hood continue to get overlooked, under-serviced and underfunded. But yet we continue to be loyal to people who are not loyal to us. #Englewood #Chicago #CPS

— Corey Brooks (@CoreyBBrooks) March 1, 2018

I Grow does great work, no doubt. The families that build I Grow also need great pubic, free schools. Chicago has not invested in the Englewood schools for years to justify closing them. This is systematic racism at its finest. #RahmHatesUs

— melissa (@hulkisholmes) March 1, 2018

i walked into CPS's central office today expecting to cover a dry board meeting with @caity_henderson for our project... and saw dozens of protestors instead, who were trying to derail the vote on closing 4 Chicago high schools, mostly representing #Englewood #HarperHigh and #NTA pic.twitter.com/4CSS5ybdU3

— Marissa (@mar1ssamart1nez) March 1, 2018

Chicago Public Schools to close 4 Englewood schools, convert South Loop elementary to high school: https://t.co/W01NRJABr1 pic.twitter.com/Oog82vnVNL

— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) February 28, 2018

Chicago Public Schools to close 4 Englewood schools, convert South Loop elementary to high school: https://t.co/W01NRJABr1 pic.twitter.com/Oog82vnVNL

— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) February 28, 2018

Students upset about #ChicagoPublicSchools plan to close #Englewood schools just stormed into #Chicago #CityHall. Many more came after I shot this video for @cbschicago. #chicago #chicagoIL #Englewood pic.twitter.com/lwHRfDtz2k

— LAUREN VICTORY (@LaurenVictory) February 28, 2018

Englewood school closures are part of a Chicago Public Schools cycle of disinvestment, dating back to 2011, the first year of the Emanuel administration. Coincidence? #SaveEnglewoodSchools https://t.co/tO6JLfImvZ

— ChicagoTeachersUnion (@CTULocal1) February 28, 2018