In his last major act before heading to Washington as President-elect Barack Obama’s pick for education secretary, outgoing Chicago schools chief Arne Duncan wants to close or consolidate 25 "underperforming" or under-enrolled schools, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.
The proposal — which Duncan plans to unveil Wednesday — would be the largest wave of school closings in Chicago in one year since Mayor Daley gave the schools chief the authority through the "Renaissance 2010" initiative to replace 70 underperforming schools with 100 new schools by 2010.
Fenger High School on the South Side is slated for a "turnaround," where students remain but the staff is replaced. Twenty-five Chicago Public schools are slated to be affected under a new proposal from Arne Duncan.
Six schools would be closed under Duncan’s plan, details of which were obtained from information provided to parents groups and the CTU.
Five more schools would be consolidated, or merged into other schools. Five would be phased out. And nine would become "turnaround" schools, where students remain but staff replaced…