The Commission on School Utilization at a November meeting

The Sun-Times today called for the Chicago Public Schools to spread school closings over two years instead of doing them all this year. Because CPS is “a dysfunctional bureaucracy even on its best day,” it’s more likely to screw up the process if it’s rushed, the editorial reasoned.

This makes sense to me. The issue right now is not whether any schools will be closed, but how many and which ones, and how best to do it. That takes careful thinking and planning.

But don’t expect CPS to follow the Sun-Times‘s advice. Mayor Emanuel likely wants this controversy in his rear-view mirror, the sooner the better. He doesn’t want to still be closing schools in 2014 with the next mayoral campaign starting that fall.