Chicago’s public schools are emptying. Politics makes it hard to fix

From the outside, Hirsch Metropolitan High School, in Greater Grand Crossing, a neighbourhood on the South Side of Chicago, looks as grand as ever. Its handsome building, constructed in the mid-1920s in red brick with turrets in cream terracotta, occupies most of a city block. The problem is on the inside. The school, which was built for 1,100 pupils, has just 113 on its books. That is far too few to provide a broad education. “They don’t even have enough funding, barely, to have full classes,” says Maria Owens, a lawyer who volunteers on the school’s council. Though the school has been able to start a theatre programme, other extra-curricular activities are lacking. The swimming pool and music room are out of use.