Parents for Public Schools of San Francisco is a group of concerned parents in San Francisco. In this recent post, they address a concern that has arisen in many cities– school closure.
What is a sure-fire way for a school district to unsettle its constituents, raise anxiety, and cause panic across the system? Raise the question of school closures. Although one of the most dreaded topics for district staff and constituents alike, closing schools is often considered when districts face the fiscal impact of declining and/or low enrollment and/or under-achieving schools. This approach to pursuing fiscal stability may seem straightforward and simple but often results in the destructive displacement of the district’s most vulnerable students, namely those who are Black or brown and/or from under-resourced communities.
The decision to close schools is never an easy one and districts often approach the task with the intent of engaging in a fair, and transparent decision-making process to determine which schools to close. Rarely does the intent align with the reality of the outcome. More often, these processes are dominated by parents with means (assuming that they send their children to public schools) and who know how to access decision-makers and those in positions of power. They mobilize immediately contacting district, city, and state officials. They engage attorneys and advocates, launch massive email and letter-writing campaigns, pack School Board Meetings, and use every means at their disposal to ensure that all are aware of their outrage at the injustice. The end result— the district reconsiders or finds a different approach and schools in their communities are rarely closed.
After countless participation in Board Meetings to express a variety of equity issues, I am concerned that the governance practices that focus on “student outcomes” are resulting in victim, shaming. The most problematic in school closure decisions is the way that they “blame and punish the victim.” The problem of underachievement is not the fault of the students who attend these schools. Yet, it is the students who suffer the most from school closure decisions.