As the Chicago school board prepares to decide whether it will close more than 50 elementary schools, The Chicago Sun-Times is looking at how the proposed changes may affect the safety of students who would have to transfer to different campuses.
PART I: Moving schools may force a child to leave one gang's turf and cross the ever-shifting border to another's.
PART II: The district has proposed closing Marconi Community Academy School and sending kids to Tilton Elementary, about half a mile away, where academic performance is stronger. The problem, parents say, will be getting their children safely to Tilton.
PART III: If Kohn Elementary School on the South Side is closed, some of the students will be assigned to Lavizzo Elementary. But parents say the six-plus blocks separating the two schools are falling apart and dangerous for students who would have to walk to Lavizzo.
