Were you impacted by Chicago’s 2013 school closures? Convey to us your tale.

It’s been 10 yrs considering the fact that Chicago General public Universities shut 50 educational facilities at the moment. 

The youngest college students at these educational facilities would now be in significant faculty. What transpired to them right after their educational institutions shut?  

The assure from district officials and then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel at the time was that learners from the shuttered buildings would go to improved faculties with far more assets. But the determination set off a mini-diaspora, with students enrolling at much more than 280 distinct universities or leaving the city. 

“The trauma that arose from the way in which those people 50 schools had been closed, however resonates right now,” claimed outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whose administration did not shut educational institutions owing to a moratorium on university closures that was prolonged and is now established to close in 2025. Which is also when Chicago will start to transition to a 21-member elected university board. 

The spectacular mass school closures of 2013 marked the unofficial finish of an era in which the city’s faculty board on a yearly basis voted to shut down colleges and open up new types — an method to faculty reform acknowledged as a portfolio product. But enrollment has continued to decline, leaving some shrinking educational institutions having difficulties to deliver a comprehensive academic encounter.

How college closures are dealt with in the foreseeable future will be decided by that board and the city’s next mayor — who will both be teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson or previous district CEO Paul Vallas. The two have vastly different visions for the city’s faculty program. 

With these seismic shifts on the horizon, Chalkbeat is wanting back again at the impact of the 2013 university closures and would like to hear from all those impacted the most: college students, personnel, and people.  Be sure to share your practical experience making use of the type beneath. 

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Call Becky at [email protected].