Trumbull School Officially Closing

On Tuesday, a federal judge denied an injunction to halt the closing of Trumbull Elementary School in Andersonville. Trumbull is now officially closing. On Wednesday, CPS had the moving vans outside Trumbull. I'm sure this was probably just a continuation of inventory already being moved out.

As part of the CPS destruction of public schools Trumbull was declared underutilized. A lawsuit was filed on behalf of two students with disabilities. The suit claimed CPS incorrectly used the utilization formula at Trumbull because it did not take into account the high special education population at the school. The building was found to be underutilized by CPS. According to the Trumbull Local School Council, however, when state and federal mandated guidelines for special education are used Trumbull is at 88% utilization. See there report here.

The closing of Trumbull will affect three other area schools; Chappell, McPherson and McCutcheon. Those are the schools Trumbull's students will be officially moved to. It would seem that Pierce and the Stockton/Courtenay merger, which are two other area schools, could possibly be affected also. There are also concerns about "safe passage" to the receiving schools. The crossing of busy streets, continued construction on Lawrence Avenue between Ashland and Western, renovation to the Metra line along Ravenswood and gang activity east of Clark Street have all been mentioned as issues.

As a resident of the Andersonville/Ravenswood/Uptown area I have heard much discussion of what will happen to the building located on the northwest corner of Ashland and Foster. There are concerns that it will be converted to a charter school. Others worry that it will be converted into loft apartments or worse just sit there vacant for years. According to CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley CPS has failed to sell off the buildings from last years closings. The neighborhood fears another huge vacant and abandoned building like Edgewater Hospital which closed in December of 2001 and still sits there.

I share two more pictures from Trumbull with you. First, the traditional elementary school name attached to the traditional wrought iron fence of CPS schools. The second picture is a banner hung up recently. Watching the fight of Trumbull parents and students for their school I feel they really do believe "Once a Charger, Always a Charger."