Closure Plan Draws Heated Objections

Some speakers said that not enough care and time was being devoted to the plan and that they feared it would accelerate the departure of students from the traditional public schools into public charter schools, which now enroll 17,500 students in 51 facilities.

Gina Arlotto, co-founder and president of Save Our Schools, an advocacy group that opposes charter schools, said, "The result will be to destabilize the system, driving more students out further."

Absalom Jordan, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Ward 8 and a member of the restructuring team at Simon Elementary School in Southeast, blamed the school board's out-of-boundary policy for the high number of schools with low enrollment in his community that are susceptible to closure.

"If programs, dollars and [high-quality] facilities were provided, we wouldn't have to go out of the ward," Jordan said.

Numerous speakers discussed the part of Janey's proposal that encourages a dozen underenrolled schools to voluntarily consolidate.

Sherrie Britt, a teacher at Adams Elementary School in Northwest, said she opposed discussion about her school consolidating with nearby Oyster Elementary. "We don't consider the merger as a viable solution to low enrollment," she said.

But Sarah Johnson, who serves on the restructuring team at Adams and also opposes the idea, nevertheless said a collaboration could save the school and help children from Southeast who attend it.

"Do you put them back into neighborhood schools that are not adequate?" Johnson asked.