I was so thrilled to see Stacy Davis Gates’ letter championing neighborhood public schools. Over the last 20 to 30 years, the Chicago Public Schools has tried numerous alternatives to good neighborhood schools, including selective enrollment schools and privately-run charter schools.
While these initiatives were well-intentioned, we now know that any gains made were at the expense of the local neighborhood schools, as they lost students and the financial resources that are ascribed to them. The public school system in Chicago is a mish-mosh of underfunded, under-enrolled and under-performing neighborhood schools and selective enrollment and charter schools.
