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A2 UP FRONT
Tuesday 2 augusT 2022
Cities face crisis as fewer kids enroll and schools shrink

By MILA KOUMPILOVA and daughter, Emersyn Wise,
MATT BARNUM of Chalk- is entering second grade.
beat, When Ramsey became
and COLLIN BINKLEY of The homeless and went to
Associated Press Chalk- stay with family during the
beat and Associated Press pandemic, teachers from
CHICAGO (AP) — On a re- Shaw drove half an hour to
cent morning inside Chalm- deliver schoolwork. Later,
ers School of Excellence on the school's staff helped
Chicago's West Side, five Ramsey find permanent
preschool and kindergar- housing.
ten students finished up Ramsey, 32, still remembers
drawings. Four staffers, in- the joy she felt when she
cluding a teacher and a and her two daughters first
tutor, chatted with them visited Shaw.
about colors and shapes. "The principal looked like
The summer program of- them — she was a young
fers the kind of one-on-one Black woman who was
support parents love. But excited to see them," she
behind the scenes, Princi- said." They were really big
pal Romian Crockett wor- on family engagement,
ries the school is becoming family involvement, and
precariously small. Students attend a class at Chalmers Elementary school in Chicago, Wednesday, July 13, 2022. that's just something you
Chalmers lost almost a third Associated Press don't see that often."
of its enrollment during the Now, with the school's fate
pandemic, shrinking to out in a few years, officials small schools are very ex- by the pandemic. Schools in question, Ramsey is de-
215 students. In Chicago, will face a difficult choice: pensive," Chicago schools serve as community hubs bating whether to keep
COVID-19 worsened de- Keep the schools open de- chief Pedro Martinez told and points of local pride Emersyn there.
clines that preceded the spite the financial strain, or the school board recently. even as they lose students Ramsey's dilemma illus-
virus: Predominantly Black close them, upsetting com- "We can get some really — as is the case in North trates what the district calls
neighborhoods like Chalm- munities looking for stability creative, innovative mod- Lawndale. its "cycle of declining enroll-
ers' North Lawndale, long for their children. els, but we need the fund- Race also looms large. Na- ment": Schools' enrollment
plagued by disinvestment, "My worry is that we will ing." tionally, schools with more falls, leading to financial
have seen an exodus of shut down when we have At the same time, these students of color are more instability — which prompts
families over the past de- all worked so hard," said schools are often stretched likely to be closed, and even more families to
cade. Yvonne Wooden, who thin. Very small schools offer those in affected com- leave. The problem is often
The number of small schools serves on Chalmers' school fewer clubs, sports and arts munities often feel unfairly worse at schools with more
like Chalmers is growing in council. Her children programs. Some elemen- targeted. The prospect of students of color.
many American cities as went to the pre-K through tary schools group students closing schools is particu- And when schools face
public school enrollment eighth-grade school, and from different grades in the larly fraught in Chicago, closure, it's "devastating"
declines. More than one in two grandchildren attend same classroom, although where 50 schools were for families, said Suleika
five New York City elemen- now. "That would really hurt Martinez has vowed that shuttered in 2013, most Soto, acting director of the
tary schools had fewer than our neighborhood." won't happen next year. in predominantly Black Boston Education Justice
300 students last school The pandemic acceler- Manley Career Academy neighborhoods. The move Alliance, which advocates
year. In Los Angeles, that ated enrollment declines High School on Chicago's frayed trust between resi- for underrepresented stu-
figure was over one in four. in many districts as families West Side illustrates the par- dents and the district and, dents. "It means you have
In Chicago it has grown to switched to homeschool- adox. It now serves 65 stu- according to University of to uproot," she said. "And
nearly one in three, and ing, charter schools and dents, and the cost per stu- Chicago research, mark- then if parents don't like it,
in Boston it's approaching other options. Students dent has shot up to $40,000, edly disrupted learning for then they'll remove their
one in two, according to a moved away or vanished even though schools like low-income students. children from the public
Chalkbeat/AP analysis. from school rolls for un- Manley offer few elective In Boston, where the district school system, which again
Most of these schools were known reasons. courses, sports and extra- had been losing students adds to the toxic cycle."
not originally designed to Many districts like Chicago curricular activities. well before the pandemic, Nevertheless, some urban
be small, and educators give schools money for "We're spending $40,000 families are skeptical of clo- school districts that are
worry coming years will each student. That means per pupil just to offer the sures. losing students, including
bring tighter budgets even small schools sometimes bare minimum," said Hal Among the schools most at Denver, Indianapolis, and
as schools are recovering struggle to pay for fixed Woods of the advocacy risk is P.A. Shaw Elementary Kansas City, Missouri, are
from the pandemic's dis- costs — the principal, a group Kids First Chicago, School in Boston's Dorches- considering school clo-
ruption. counselor and building up- which has studied declin- ter neighborhood. Revived sures. Earlier this year, the
"When you lose kids, you keep. ing enrollment in the district. from a previous closure in Oakland, California, school
lose resources," said Crock- To address that, many allo- "It's not really a $40,000-per- 2014, the school had just board voted to close sev-
ett, the Chalmers principal. cate extra money to small pupil student experience." over 150 students last year, eral small schools despite
"That impacts your ability schools, diverting dollars Small schools are popu- down from 250 in 2018. Af- furious protests.
to serve kids with very high from larger schools. In Chi- lar with families, teachers ter making plans to elimi- "School budgets have been
needs." cago, the district spends and community members nate two classrooms earlier cut as a way to keep more
A state law prohibits Chica- an average of $19,000 an- because of their tight-knit, this year — seen by some schools open," said former
go from closing or consoli- nually per student at small supportive feel. Some ar- as a harbinger of closure — Oakland board member
dating schools until 2025. high schools, while students gue districts should pour the district faced blowback Shanthi Gonzales, who re-
And across the U.S., COV- at larger ones get $10,000, more dollars into these from parents and teachers. signed in May soon after
ID-19 relief money is helping according to the Chalk- schools, many in predomi- Parents rallying behind the voting to support school
subsidize shrinking schools. beat/AP analysis. nantly Black and Latino school included Brenda closures. "There are really
But when the money runs "I love small schools, but neighborhoods hard hit Ramsey, whose 7-year-old awful tradeoffs."q