As part of their Renaissance 2010 school transformation plan, the administration of the Chicago Public Schools annually announces a list of low-performing schools to be closed. What's different this year is that community groups are at the table with CPS for the first time.

One of those groups is West Town Leadership United. Idida Perez leads WTLU, which works on affordable housing and health issues as well as school reform on the Near Northwest Side. WTLU, in partnership with state representative Cynthia Soto, was one of a handful of groups that threatened legislative action against CPS unless they created a community task force to consult on school closings.

The task force is composed of neighborhood groups from around the city, and was consulted on this year's list of school closings, which notably involved both high schools and the elementary schools that directly fed them. A full list of school closings can be found at http://www.cps.k12.il.us/AboutCPS/PressReleases/Jan_2008/turnarounds08.p....

CPS has several options to close and consolidate schools, but the ones that receive the most attention are the "turnaround schools." To CPS' credit, they have evolved this process over several years to have the greatest chance of success and the least disruption for the kids who go there. Essentially, the school gets a new, high-quality principal trained by Academy of Urban School Leadership, an entirely new staff, and a facilities upgrade, all over summer vacation. The new wrinkle this year is that for each of the high schools being closed, they'll be closing two feeder schools.

Orr high school is on the hitlist, as are Morton and Howe which feed into Orr. Orr would serve as a teacher's academy for AUSL. WTLU will be helping to engage the community in the new school.

Despite the fact that "Public" is CPS' middle name, they're learning about public process the hard way, and have had to deal with another round of protests and walkouts this year. Perez notes "They've gone from an F to a C- in involving the community. That's huge for CPS. Better than a D. They're trying to work on it, but there are some old school people there who don't know how to share their power and share their decision making."

There's no better group to help CPS understand community process than WTLU. They recently were part of conducting 600 door-to-door interviews with parents about the new schools. They consulted with other community groups and hosted a town hall meeting. Perez describes WTLU's job as "getting people to come and be a part of change."

There's one more thing WTLU wants to add to the new school plans: local school councils. These elected bodies of parents, teachers, and community members are not required for turnaround schools. Perez, however, insists that some sort of accountability mechanism is essential for new schools to understand and respond to the particular challenges of their communities.

"You can't treat communities with a cookie-cutter approach. The number one focus needs to be on the child. Who are they? Are we being culturally sensitive? Are we keeping in mind the neighborhood context? That's the beauty of LSCs. They come directly from the community. That's why it's so key that the task force works with CPS in designing a process you can take to neighborhoods and involve communities."