The American Federation of Teachers Local 420 slammed a preliminary proposal to shut down 37 schools in the St. Louis Public Schools district during a summit on Wednesday.

The event brought together speakers from both St. Louis and Chicago, which saw its own round of school closures over a decade ago, to offer an alternative to shutting down schools: reopening and investing in neighborhood schools.

Missouri AFT President Carron ‘CeeJay’ Johnson, who led the conversation during the summit, said she’d like to see the district take a different approach.

“Instead of talking about closing schools, we need to be talking about restoring and rebuilding,” Johnson said. “We know a lot of our schools ain’t going to be able to make it, but some of them can.”

Fewer than 100 people attended the even

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