Chicago schools fight closure as drive for charter schools continues

Like a condemned man taking time out for a manicure, Mahalia Jackson elementary school on Chicago's south side will have its gardens replanted in the next week or so. Then, if the city's school board has its way, just as the new flowers reach full bloom it will prepare to close its doors for good.

"We're a tight-knit school in the heart of the community," says GC Middleton, a social science teacher who has taught there for 25 years. "I taught the parents of three of the children in my class. They say there's a method to this madness. But I still don't understand what it is."