CHICAGO — The proposed 54 Chicago Public School closings must be addressed as a human rights issue, said DePaul’s Horace Hall.

“By understanding that the school closings jeopardize the physical and psychological health of citizens, as well as the disintegration of their communities, a different approach undoubtedly must be considered — one that brings community leaders, educators, parents and youth to the table in deciding what is best in public school education,” said Hall, an associate professor of educational policy studies and research in DePaul University’s College of Education.

“For example, consolidating CPS schools will cause classroom overcrowding, mix different community gangs and cliques in one building, and hinder academic quality,” Hall said. “The $7 million that CPS has budgeted for safe passage programs could be used instead to enhance school quality at existing schools.”

Hall will be part of a panel of education practitioners, professors and a local school council chair who will look at prior research on school closings and analyze current data on the impact on students and schools at a May 15 DePaul panel discussion titled “School Closings in Chicago: The Impact on Children and Communities.” CPS officials are slated to vote on the school closings May 22.

Other panelists include Stephanie Farmer, assistant professor of sociology at Roosevelt University; Michael Toney, executive director of the Urban Health Program, University of Illinois at Chicago; Federico Waitoller, assistant professor of special education, University of Illinois at Chicago; and Valerie Nelson, Local School Council Chair, Lafayette Elementary School.

Sponsored by the DePaul College of Education’s Department of Educational Policy Studies and Research, the forum runs from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in Rm. 154 of DePaul’s Schmitt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore Ave., Chicago. For more information, visit http://ow.ly/kQ6oW.