Racist School Closings in Washington, DC

The District of Columbia's planned public school closings disproportionately affect minority and special needs students and there is no evidence the plan will improve educational outcomes or save the district money.

"I don't want my school to close because they have a lot of fun things that I like there," said 9-year-old McKea, a third-grader at Ferebee-Hope Elementary School in Washington, DC. "If they take that away, I won't have nothing else fun to play with or do.”

Dressed in their Ferebee-Hope cheerleading uniforms, McKea and her teammates were accompanied by Shannon Smith, who has two grandchildren at Ferebee-Hope, one of 15 schools slated for closure by DC School Chancellor Kaya Henderson. Smith led the children to a rally outside the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, where several DC parents, students and activists had gathered to support a lawsuit against the closings.

It turns out that all 15 schools are located east of Rock Creek Park, an unofficial dividing line between poor minority communities on the east side and affluent white neighborhoods west of the park, leading to allegations that school closings are an attempt to privatize public education at the expense of the city's most vulnerable residents.

"They keep taking things away from our kids and expect our kids to achieve," Smith told Truthout. "This is discrimination against our black kids.”

Racist School Closings in Washington, DC