IDEA: The Institute for Democratic Education in America Invites You To May 9th Journey For Justice Webinar

Across our cities and school districts, our public schools are being closed. Students are being displaced and families are losing access to neighborhood schools. Sometimes, closure is based on student academic performance. Sometimes it is rationalized by under-enrollment or financial needs. But in every case—every time a neighborhood public school is closed—students’ education is disrupted and communities are destabilized.

School closings are not distributed evenly across our districts. In every district represented in the Journey for Justice coalition, school closings disproportionately impact African American and Latino students, schools and communities. That is why several of our organizations have filed Title VI complaints with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights. We are demanding that the Department investigate the racial impact of school closings in our cities.

We are on a Journey for Justice. From our sidewalks, our backyards and our homes, we see things that aren’t reported by those who try to justify and explain these closings. Officials in Washington, D.C. need to see if from our perspective.