Comparing Detroit’s School Closings to Chicago

Detroit is not the only major city school district facing closures and consolidations: Pittsburgh closed 22 schools in 2006; Washington DC closed 23 schools in 2008.118

Like the City of Detroit, Chicago, IL has struggled with large-scale school closures. Between 2001 and 2012, Chicago Public Schools closed 90 of its 601 schools119 120 as the population of the city declined and enrollment fell.121 Another 49 schools closed at the end of the 2012-13 school year, the single largest number of school closings in the United States, eclipsing Detroit’s 31 school closures the same year.122

CPS has faced many of the same challenges as Detroit: the introduction of charter schools has drawn students away from the public school system, while its lowest-performing schools have been transferred into a privately-run entity. A large number of closed school buildings have had to be disposed of, with many of the same location and condition complications that Detroit has.

While Detroit has struggled to find uses for its surplus buildings, Chicago has had more success. Of the 90 schools that closed between 2001 and 2012, only four schools have been left vacant. 35 reopened as public schools with different academic programs, or merged with other nearby schools. 41 became charter schools. Five were sold are now used for non-education purposes. Three were demolished due to poor buildings conditions. Several schools were phased out over the course of a few years to minimize disruption to student life, and closed after the last class graduated.

However, the 2012-13 closings have proven to be more problematic. Of the 49 schools that closed in 2013, only seven have been sold or repurposed for non-academic uses. 32 schools are currently vacant. Efforts to maintain and secure the large number of vacant buildings have run into the same problems as Detroit. Water was left on at several shuttered schools, which froze and burst over the winter, causing serious water damage. Scrapping has taken it’s toll as well.123 A visual survey of all vacant school properties in November of 2015 found that 16 schools had boarded windows and other signs of intrusion. 14 schools appear to be in poor or distressed condition. Significantly, though, none of the schools were open to trespass.

Many of the most recently closed schools are located in struggling neighborhoods. Though some charter school operators have expressed interest in reopening some of the closed schools, Chicago’s teachers’ union have fought any further growth of the charter system at the expense of public schools, and the agreement to close schools had stipulations that they not be reused as charter schools.124

In late 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel set up a committee to address the problem of the closed facilities. A plan released in early 2014 recommended implementation of a three step process to reuse or dispose of closed buildings that involved consulting with the community.125 If no viable use is found for the schools by 2016, the committee recommends demolishing the buildings.126