Instead of expanding selective enrollment, end two-tier education and make every neighborhood school a well-resourced, sustainable community school.
CHICAGO, January 10, 2019—Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey released the following statement today in response to mayoral candidate Gery Chico’s proposal to expand Chicago’s separate and unequal public school system, which has left neighborhood schools desperately short of resources and gutted enrollment:
“Chico is proposing to expand the educational apartheid that has robbed Black and Latinx families of well-funded neighborhood public schools, instead of proposing progressive sources of revenue to ensure that EVERY school community has the resources students need.
“We need to support our neighborhoods If we are to reverse the push-out of Black and Latinx families in this city and the enrollment drops that push-out has caused. Well-resourced public schools in under-served neighborhoods are a linchpin in this effort. No child should have to travel for an hour or more to get to school. Every parent wants to get off the merry-go-round of trying to maneuver their child into a school that has the academic programs, school nurses, extracurricular offerings and wrap-around supports their children deserve. Chico’s proposal simply reinforces the separate and unequal school district we have today, hurting students, parents and the neighborhoods that are the lifeblood and the bedrock of a truly sustainable city.”
