School-closing plans worry parents: ‘How will you keep these children safe?’
BY MITCH DUDEK Staff Reporter mdudek@suntimes.com December 11, 2012 1:07AM
Barbara Byrd-Bennett speaks to the Chicago Urban League on Friday. | Brian Jackson~Sun-Times
Updated: January 12, 2013 6:24AM
Latricia Bates-Brown worries that Chicago Public Schools students forced to switch schools could get caught in unfriendly territory. Her concerns were echoed by others who spoke Tuesday night at a CPS public hearing at St. Sabine parish, where more than 200 people packed the assembly hall to listen and weigh in.
How will you keep these children safe?” Bates-Brown asked a panel of nine independent civic leaders appointed by Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett to gather community concerns and report back.
“I’m concerned for my 4-year-old granddaughter,” Bates-Brown said.
Ron Carter, who has two daughters at King College Prep, offered ideas on how to use shuttered school buildings . His ideas: How about turning shuttered Chicago Public Schools buildings into technology centers, affordable housing or organic fisheries and indoor farms?
Michelle Hoppe Villegas spoke on behalf of a group of Lincoln Park neighborhood parents who want school leaders to ax plans for a $50 million expansion of Lincoln Elementary School in favor of the money being used elsewhere in the city where the funds are needed more.
