Last night, D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee hosted yet another community meeting to receive feedback concerning schools scheduled for closure due to low-enrollment and poor building conditions. The Post reports that only about 100 people attended the meeting, which was held specifically to discuss the four schools that were added to a revised list earlier this month.

Rhee told the Post why some schools were added to the closure list and others reprieved, citing outdated building design, level of academic success, and availability of resources like athletic fields. The closures would save the city $23 million, which would be used to improve academics and boost staffing at the remaining schools.

Parents who testified last night were mostly critical of the closures, using language like, “they want to take away education” and comparing the closures to “taking a seed out of the ground that’s already been planted.” Maybe no one explained that students would attend different schools in the same neighborhoods?

Rhee’s office has now held ten community meetings and 23 public hearings on the school closures, and made a transparent effort to incorporate community feeling into her revised closures plan. Even Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, who initially rallied against the closures, has come around, calling them, “a victory for our children.” In a system as large and complex as D.C. public schools, Rhee will never be able to please everyone, and shouldn’t have to, but stories like this indicate some people will always be more interested in feeding controversy than giving her a chance to change the status quo.