Chicago's Catholic schools in fight for life

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Officials had notified up to 40 schools months earlier that they were on a watch list. Many of those schools launched last-minute campaigns to save their schools in the form of fundraisers, alumni appeals, corporate partnerships and alignments with aldermen and other powerful politicians, while others accepted their fate and closed their doors.

Though archdiocese officials would not confirm any impending closures or even the existence of a watch list, one principal said about 60 schools now face the declining enrollment, dilapidated facilities and climbing debt that puts schools in jeopardy.

Principals expect to learn in late December which schools will close, shortly after they submit budgets to the superintendent's office. They expect the public to be notified in January before Catholic Schools Week, when parents traditionally enroll children for the next year.

The great urban comeback?