Posted Jan. 23, 2008: CPS officials plan to announce the next round of school closings and restructurings Thursday afternoon. In recent statements, Mayor Daley and Schools CEO Arne Duncan have indicated that the district will close or consolidate under-enrolled schools—as many as 50 over the next five years—to save money. School officials say students would be moved to nearby schools with more programming options.

According to district data from February 2007, 56 elementary schools were operating at 40 percent of capacity or below, which is the district’s threshold for classifying schools as underutilized. Most are on the city’s South and West sides.

The district uses a different method for calculating high school capacity. Those figures are not included here.

School Neighborhood Enrollment Percent Utilized
MORTON Humboldt Park 412 40%
KING Near West Side 351 40%
ARIEL Kenwood 429 40%
WILLIAMS MULTIPLEX Douglas 274 40%
WOODSON SOUTH Grand Boulevard 509 39%
MORGAN Auburn Gresham 392 39%
MCCORKLE Grand Boulevard 279 39%
MITCHELL West Town 237 39%
LAFAYETTE West Town 662 38%
LATHROP North Lawndale 389 38%
MASON* North Lawndale 708 38%
JACKSON, MAHALIA Auburn Gresham 382 38%
NICHOLSON Englewood 472 38%
DELANO West Garfield Park 532 38%
PARKER Englewood 686 37%
PEABODY West Town 278 37%
BEETHOVEN Grand Boulevard 500 37%
THORP, J N South Chicago 593 37%
GOLDBLATT West Garfield Park 378 37%
SCHNEIDER North Center 180 36%
BRIGHT South Deering 339 36%
GREGORY East Garfield Park 430 36%
DETT Near West Side 386 36%
DUMAS Woodlawn 439 36%
YALE Greater Grand Crossing 320 36%
PARKMAN Fuller Park 274 35%
SMYTH Near West Side 570 35%
PRESCOTT Lincoln Park 209 35%
REED Englewood 340 34%
HAMILTON Lake View 222 34%
KERSHAW Englewood 256 33%
BETHUNE East Garfield Park 343 33%
WADSWORTH** Woodlawn 362 33%
ATTUCKS Douglas 380 32%
CHALMERS North Lawndale 294 32%
ALBANY PARK North Park 288 32%
MARSHALL MIDDLE Irving Park 406 32%
CARVER MIDDLE Riverdale 296 32%
SCHILLER Near North Side 277 31%
PENN North Lawndale 432 31%
BROWN, W Near West Side 260 30%
BRENNEMANN Uptown 330 30%
CARVER PRIMARY Riverdale 408 30%
NIA*** Near West Side 48 29%
FARADAY East Garfield Park 308 29%
FERMI South Shore 341 28%
CHOPIN West Town 272 28%
ALDRIDGE Riverdale 214 27%
MEDILL Near West Side 209 27%
PRICE Kenwood 299 26%
CARPENTER West Town 356 26%
POPE North Lawndale 182 25%
BURKE Washington Park 227 24%
CATHER East Garfield Park 248 24%
PERSHING WEST Douglas 253 20%
ABBOTT Armour Square 127 12%

* Shares building with Legacy Charter

** Shares building with University of Chicago Charter High

*** Part of the Cregier Multiplex at Cregier Campus

NOTES: The list does not include charter schools. Some buildings may be sharing space with more than one school. The district checks school utilization data only periodically.

SOURCES: Chicago Public Schools Office of Demographics and Planning.

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