For three generations, children in Lillie Gonzalez’s home have looked at Peabody Elementary School as a home away from home.
It was where her siblings attended school a half-century ago, where her seven children sat in crowded classrooms during the 1970s, where her grandson went to school and where she sits on the school council.
But that may end as Chicago Public School leaders this week are expected to announce that the school at 1444 W. Augusta Blvd. will be closing along with five others. It’s part of a move that could affect as many as 25 schools through closings, consolidations, phase-outs and turning around struggling schools, according to a preliminary district list.
Gonzalez joined more than 200 parents, teachers and community leaders at a public hearing Saturday in Malcolm X College to blast the plan. She and others accused the district of shutting schools only to reopen them as Renaissance 2010 schools under private control and without the same accountability as regular district schools.
“I am very much against it, because it’s a school that should not close,” Gonzalez said. “We used to have 40 children in a class and now that we have 20 in a class they want to close it.”
The closings are one of the last major district initiatives under schools chief Arne Duncan, who was picked by President-elect Barack Obama to be the U.S. education secretary.
The district wants to close underenrolled schools in the city and improve struggling schools through a “turnaround” process that requires staff members to reapply for their jobs. A district spokesman called a list of schools put out by a watchdog group “very preliminary,” but would not elaborate.
At the hearing, which was sponsored by local educational groups representing parents and teachers, speakers accused Mayor Richard Daley and Duncan of using the Renaissance plan to weaken teachers unions and displace students.
Critics said the new schools often are charter or contract schools that can exclude students and don’t have to hire union or certified teachers.
“You’re messing with the stability in the community,” said Marilyn Stewart, president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
– – –
Proposed changes for city schools
Chicago Public Schools’ preliminary list of school changes (all elementary except where noted):
Closing
South Chicago — insufficient enrollment
Peabody and Carpenter — students will go to Ogden, Talcott and Lozano schools
Nia Foundation
Princeton — students will go to neighborhood schools
Las Casas Occupational High School — lease won’t be renewed because of building conditions
Consolidation
Abbott — consolidated into Hendrix
Schiller — consolidated into Jenner
Medill — consolidated into Smith-Joyner
Global Vision High School — consolidated into New Millennium
Davis Developmental Center — will consolidate with Hughes in a new building
Phase-out
Key — students will go to Ellington
Lathrop — students will go to Johnson and Lawndale
Hamilton — students will go to Blaine, Burley and Audubon
Reed — students will go to Banneker, Parker and Nicholson
Best Practice High School
Turnaround
Dulles
Johnson
Bethune
Ross
Holmes
Yale
Curtis
Lavizzo
Fenger High School
———–
csadovi@tribune.com
