On the Last Day of Black History Month, Chicago's School Board Votes to Shutter Five Black Schools

Chicago saw another tumultuous episode in the city's battle over public education on Wednesday, with a sadly familiar script. As many expected, Mayor Rahm Emanuel's handpicked, un-elected school board voted unanimously to close four predominantly Black high schools, despite the impassioned pleas and organizing of students and local residents. Four of the schools -- Hope, Harper, Team Englewood and Robeson -- are the last remaining neighborhood schools in the community of Englewood, a neighborhood Chicago officials have long failed on a number of levels. National Teachers Academy elementary school (NTA) also faces closure, despite significant community protest.  Read more.