Dive Summary:

• The Chicago Board of Education voted Wednesday to close 50 of the 54 schools originally proposed for closure in a move that City Hall and Mayor Rahm Emanuel said was necessary to close the district's almost $1 billion shortfall.
• The Leif Ericson, Marcus Garvey, George Manierre and Mahalia Jackson schools were all spared from the shuttering when Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett withdrew her recommendation to close them, while Canter Leadership Academy's closure is delayed for one year.
• Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called the decision "a day of mourning for the children of Chicago" in a statement released following the vote, and the CTU has two lawsuits pending against the district over the closures.
• Access to the meeting was limited despite there being plenty of room, and protesters marched outside of CPS headquarters up until the final vote.

From the article:

... "Their education has been hijacked by an unrepresentative, unelected corporate school board, acting at the behest of a mayor who has no vision for improving the education of our children," Lewis said. "Closing schools is not an education plan. It is a scorched earth policy." ...