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May 30, 2013 – Segment 1
We open a dialogue between two cities facing tough decisions on the future of education and schools: Chicago and Baltimore.
Chicago’s Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced that 50 schools in the district will be closed, and Baltimore City’s plan for the coming decade includes closing underutilized schools and placing emphasis on renovations and new school construction. We open the conversation with the situation in Chicago with:
- Stacy Davis-Gates, Legislative Director for the Chicago Teachers Union;
- RiShawn Biddle, Editor and Publisher of Dropout Nation and columnist for The American Spectator, who wrote the article “The Chicago School Closings: A Time to Move Beyond the Traditional District Model“;
- Diane Schanzenbach, Faculty Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and Associate Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University, who wrote an op-ed for the Chicago Tribune titled, “Moving forward in the wake of school closings“;
- and Elaine Weiss, national coordinator of the Broader, BOLDER Approach to Education Campaign at the Economic Policy Institute.
Then, Stacy Davis-Gates and Elaine Weiss talk to Dayvon Love, Baltimore City Schools teacher and Director of Research and Public Policy of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, and Carol Reckling, a founding member of the Baltimore Education Coalition and Executive Director of Child First, about the similarities and differences between what is happening in Chicago and Baltimore.
