Justice
4 Big Questions Looming Over Chicago's School Closings
It's been a bruising and emotional year for Chicago's Board of Education and opponents alike. But the hardest part is still to come.
This week, the city of Chicago announced it would close 49 elementary schools and one high school, or 8 percent of its total school stock. It's the first time an American school district has closed so many schools at once. The second biggest single-year school closing order was in Washington, D.C. in 2008, when 23 schools were closed (though 15 more are in the works there).
The Chicago Tribune has a nice inforgraphic and map laying out the geography of the closures. The city says it focused on schools that were under-utilized, and the closures will reverberate throughout the entire city (though critics charge the burden falls largely on minority and low-income communities).