Chicago schools CEO asks for feedback on closures

CHICAGO (AP) — The head of Chicago Public Schools is asking residents for feedback on the district's plan to close underutilized school buildings.

Chief Executive Officer Barbara Byrd-Bennett says meetings will be held this week in several neighborhoods.

The district has identified 129 schools that could be closed this year. Officials say many buildings have too few students to justify keeping them open.

Byrd-Bennett has said that schools safe from closure are those with more than 600 students, schools with at least 70 percent capacity and those either isolated from others or surrounded by schools without any more room.

Chicago Public Schools must give names of the schools that will be closed — and the schools displaced students will attend — to the state by March 31.

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Online: http://www.cps.edu/qualityschools .