What Are the Benefits and Risks of Closing Public Schools?

Public schools have been closing in major American cities — New York, Philadelphia, Detroit, Oakland, and most recently in Chicago, where parents and teachers took to the streets. School closings are especially problematic in poor neighborhoods, forcing kids to travel further and often to cross gang territory where they can be exposed to danger. What happens to the buildings after cities shut down public schools? Emily Dowdall, a researcher with the Pew Charitable Trusts, is trying to get to the bottom of all this.