How Numbers Lied After Schools Closed

During last year’s historic school closure process in Chicago I advocated against the closing of schools in multiple ways. I have seen schools as anchors in a community and it is sometimes through the facility itself and what happens in that space that could never be measured through a blunt utilization formula.  For example the closed Ryerson Elementary School, it was a Level 2 School according to CPS, and not on probation. The school serviced a high poverty student population. The school had been Level 1 for past three years. The school received citywide attention for its 6-8th grade single sex class that had made remarkable gains. It was the first school to pilot Longer School Day before the Emmanuel administration. It had a neighborhood clinic occupy one of the classrooms, a Chicago Bulls Health and Fitness Center, and a state of the Art Library and Media Center donated by Target, with recess rooms with computers and a community rooms which were useful spaces as the outside park area had been a drug dealing hang out. The enrollment reported when it was slated to closed was 398 with a student capacity of 690 students. The utilization rate according to CPS was 58%. When parents took it among themselves to count their own classrooms and special education rooms they used the formula and determined they were 77% utilized.

The Chicago Board of Education voted to consolidate Ryerson with Laura Ward Elementary School but inside the Ryeron building. The Laura Ward building is now vacant, the school had a capacity for 720 students versus Ryerson’s capacity of 690 students. Ryerson according to data from the Utilization Commission needed $16 mil., and Laura Ward needed over $9 mil. But both schools 2008 facility assessments had reduced numbers, matter of fact Laura Ward only needed $3 mil. During the school closure decision process there was never any clarity on those maintenance dollars.

So now here we are in 2014 and the one pager for Real Estate Brokers from CPS recently posted RFP states that the yearly maintenance of Laura Ward is a little over $200,000 a year, and the information given to the brokers explicitly shows the available Tax Increment Financing dollars available to be potentially used.

Why couldn’t we have used those funds to lower the cost of Laura Ward and Ryerson maintenance and keep these high performing schools in the community? Keeping two schools with high academic achievement with relatively high utilization (Laura Ward's utilization was 55%) and continuing to support the stabilization of these anchoring schools who before the closure had eighth graders going elite high schools across the City. Matter of fact, Laura Ward is now back to being a Level 1 school. The new Laura Ward which is the consolidation with Ryerson no longer has a Fitness room, and has over 694 students in a building made for 690. 

The vacant school buildings mean so much more than a potential development project they must be a part of restoring the hurt, any damage done by the school closures and uplift these communities through community decision making and advising the disposition of these anchor institutions determined by those impacted.