The Unified Facilities Plan and the BTU (Draft)

A cartoon published in the December, 1979 edition of the Boston Union Teacher decrying the hypocrisy present in the Unified Facilities Plan: https://openarchives.umb.edu/digital/collection/p15774coll27/id/356/rec/76

In the March, 1979 edition of the Boston Union Teacher, the banner headline called attention to a formal protest issued to the Boston School Department over the closure of eleven elementary schools in the city, effective September, 1979. The announcement of closure was made in mid-February. The Boston Teachers Union was not alone in this protest, nor were they the first, following the Citywide Parent’s Advisory Council. Both the BTU and the CPAC accused the School Department of breaking promises that parents would be fully involved in what was termed the Unified Facilities Plan. What was this plan? And why did it involve closing schools? What did the BTU do to try and curtail its effects that they considered negative?