Site Cleared for Future South Loop Elementary; Some Question Whether It's Necessary

A reader writes:

Thought I would forward on pictures I took of the completely demolished old USPS location at 16th and Dearborn. This has really picked up steam and is a great sign for the Sloop!

As a reminder, about a year ago word trickled out that a new South Loop elementary school was being proposed for the neighborhood.  Details are still limited, but we had a post in August that outlined that a 4-story structure that would be 110,000 square feet would be built to house the school.

While many in the neighborhood are excited about this development, not everyone is as bullish about the school.  One reader recently sent us an article from WBEZ about some of challenges regarding schooling in the city.  More specifically the article talks about National Teachers Academy (on Cermak) and questioning whether South Loop Elementary is necessary given the city's budget crunch.  The reader expounds:

It points out that parents at NTA question whether it's a wise use of funds at this juncture to build a new school for South Loop Elementary (SLE). This is a big deal. In my opinion, from an outside perspective, building for SLE is completely unwarranted and perpetuates racial segregation. (Disclosure: I own in the NTA district.) However, I've heard rumors that the secret plan is to turn NTA into a high school for the South Loop and Chinatown. If true, these discussions should be happening in public, it's a bad idea to have CPS making such big decisions without public input. What are the population projections for the area? How many seats do these schools have? How will charters change the picture? Anyway, I saw this WBEZ article and it made me wonder if the SLE project could blow up the way Obama Prep did.

Thoughts?

(Hat tip: DK!)