School's out forever

No closing list until tests over

The Birmingham Board of Education -- which is kind of like the Birmingham City Council if the City Council were completely inept -- won't vote on what schools will close (they're being forced to close some because the state thinks that the current ones aren't overcrowded enough) until after testing, because schools are now run for the expressed purpose of having standardized tests. That's all they're for. Anyway, apparently last time they closed schools, students got all depressed and did worse on their tests. But after the testing is over, who cares if the students are depressed? We have tests to prepare.