Last year, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) held a strike to fight against school privatization, decaying school infrastructure, and unfair contracts for teachers. Their popular strike won a series of concessions from Chicago Public Schools, despite opposition from Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

But the CTU is once again being forced to mobilize as CPS has unveiled a plan to close almost 50 neighborhood schools, in a scorched earth budget-cutting maneuver. CPS principals were astonishingly not even told their schools would be closing until 6 a.m. today. “Iai??i??m angry. Iai??i??m upset. Iai??i??m shaking to the core. I didnai??i??t think theyai??i??d actually go through with this, the largest number of closings ever. Thereai??i??s been no real planning,” saidAi??Clarice Berry, president of Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.

Chicago has never closed more than a dozen schools in a single year, and Emanuel reportedly pushed for closing so many at one time, deciding to offer a five-year moratorium on closings in the future as a bargaining chip.

CTU is planning a rally for next Wednesday to bring together students, teachers, parents, and other community members to protest against the school closure plan.

UPDATE: The full list has been unveiled. 54 schools are slated to be closed. They are all elementary schools and almost all of them are in low-income and/or black neighborhoods.

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