The Crime of School Closings

School closings are a crime no matter who is responsible. I just learned this morning that one of Brooklyn's great institutions, Nazareth HS in East Flastbush, is slated for closing by the Brooklyn Diocese even though its girls basketball team is rated #1 in the US among Catholic girls teams. Closing schools-whether for economic reasons or low test scores- erases history, fractures communities, and smothers dreams. When the history of Urban America is written in the last 30 years, the legacy of poverty and inequality will be easily traced by what happened to the schools in these neighborhoods, abandoned by those with money, used as experiments for those seeking reform. I hope the parents and students and alumni can keep Nazareth open And the same those for all the public schools the DOE is trying to shut down