Backed by teachers unions, which stand to lose members with each school that goes under, activists in Atlanta and Newark, N.J. in Philadelphia, Detroit and Oakland, Calif., have stormed school board meetings and organized student walkouts to protest closures. Chicago activist Jitu Brown even organized a small but feisty march on Washington this fall with parents and students from cities as far-flung as Wichita, Kansas, and Eupora,Mississippi.
