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In New Schools
CEO Ron Huberman today announced six recommendations for new schools that he will submit to the Board of Education later this month—about a third of the number of recommendations made by Arne Duncan in previous rounds of the Renaissance 2010 proposal process.
District officials say they are scrutinizing the proposals more closely, hence fewer schools made the cut. But cash, or rather the lack of it, appears to be a factor: The district has no money to pay start-up costs for new schools. Also, the goal of Renaissance 2010—to open 100 new schools—will easily be reached next year.
This is the first year that every new school submitted to the board is located in one of the communities identified as most in need of better schools.
The district keeps budgetary considerations in mind, says Jaime Guzman, acting director of Chicago’s Office of New Schools. The district faces an estimated $700 million deficit next year and each new school costs roughly $170,000 to launch.
But Guzman won’t admit that the district has plans to slow down the number of new schools opening.
“The bar gets higher every year as we refine the process,” says Guzman, noting that all six new school recommendations are from operators that have been through the process before. “We have a better sense of what it takes to create a quality school.”
Illinois lawmakers recently lifted the cap on charters, adding another 45 slots for Chicago alone. But Guzman suggests the lifting of the cap came too late for many new proposals to be drawn up and submitted this year. With just one charter available at the start of this year’s vetting process, few charter providers stepped forward with plans, says Guzman.
The one charter slot that was open last May became available after CPS closed the Choir Academy.
The district plans to announce another round of school “turnarounds” in January.
Five of the six schools recommended by Huberman will open as charters—all by operators who already run schools in Chicago. Also, some contract schools are converting to charters.
One of these conversions is Urban Prep’s East Garfield Park campus. Tim King, the founder and CEO of the all-boys’ school, says that he would have preferred to open the East Garfield Park as a charter.
“We do not have the same freedoms as charter schools,” he says. Among the big differences is that all contract school teachers must be certified and principals must have Type 75 credentials. In charters, however, principals do not need Type 75s and some teachers can be non-certified—a distinct advantage when schools look to hire career changers.
While charter and contract schools get the same amount per pupil from the district, schools have more leverage to raise money for charters, King adds. Some foundations only give to charters, and there is some federal funding reserved for charters.
Another contract school that is converting is Rowe Elementary in West Town, run by the Northwestern Settlement House, a social service agency. Lorena Gomez, the school’s communications manager, says Rowe also wanted to open as a charter, but plans to join as part of the Noble Street Charter Network fell through. She says Rowe educators jumped at the chance to convert to a charter.
A public hearing on the proposals is scheduled for Nov. 9, 6pm, at the CPS board chambers.
Fall 2010 and 2011 Openings
• Another Noble Street charter in Englewood (Fall 2010)
• Another Chicago International charter in Riverdale (Fall 2010)
• Two LEARN Charter schools, one in South Chicago (Fall 2010) and the other in South Shore (Fall 2011)
• Roseland Preparatory Academy, modeled after Frazier Preparatory Academy, in North Lawndale (Fall 2011)
• Another UNO Charter school (Fall 2011)
Contract Schools Converting to Charters
• Academy of Global Citizenship (Garfield Ridge)
• Catalyst Circle Rock Campus (Austin)
• Chicago Talent Development High School (West Garfield Park)
• EPIC Academy High School (South Chicago)
• Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy (Near Southwest Side)
• Rowe Elementary (West Town)
• Urban Prep Academy for Young Men (East Garfield Park)
• Urban Prep Academy for Young Men (South Shore)
Sarah Karp contributed to this report.
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Mail• Every school that has been closed and re-opened as a charter has (1) been in an area of a real estate development plan sponsored by people who have significant influence with the Chicago Public Schools and formulation of policy. These actions have undermined the control of local residents of their schools in favor of corporate boards. Rather than being controlled by local school councils, the schools are controlled by boards that by and large have little, if any, representation from North Lawndale.
o Moreover, these policies have effectively used schools as anchors for community development. While this is not a bad thing in and of itself, these policies could effectively be used for gentrification rather than uplifting current community residents, if left unchecked.
• Every school that has been closed and re-opened has received millions of dollars (one school got over $30 million) from Chicago Public Schools or TIF funds, for major renovations right before closing. The millions never benefitted the school under whose capital plan the dollars were drawn, but the charter school that replaced the school. Imagine telling third graders that their school will be closing, but they can’t come back after it re-opens, because the school will only go up to second grade. Then imagine sending them to a school where they have to cross a major street, which is actually an interstate highway.
• Proponents of Renaissance 2010 like to boast that charter schools are better because they outperform their neighborhood counterparts. If 90% of the neighborhood schools are failing, it should not be too hard to outperform them. However, if you compare the charters to citywide performance, and national standards, they do not do nearly as well as the claims. For example:
• North Lawndale has 22 elementary schools. Five of these are charter schools. Four of the five schools were created under Renaissance 2010. The charter school that was created under normal conditions, has consistently performed as well as or better than schools in the City of Chicago in reading and math. Another charter school created under Renaissance 2010 performs as well or better than Chicago public schools in math. Two of the charter elementary schools perform as well or better than North Lawndale schools, but not as well as schools city wide, in reading and math. Two of the charter elementary schools perform worse than the North Lawndale average, ranking 18 and 21 out of 22 schools in reading.
• North Lawndale no longer has any regular high schools. (How’s that for school choice?) Every one of our high schools is a charter school. The top rated high school is a charter, and IT HAS NEVER, EVER, ACHIEVED AYP in its entire 12 year existence. In spite of this fact, the State Legislature voted overwhelmingly to approve the expansion of the number of charters in the state, and this school was granted permission to take on another site. This school operates in two sites. In both instances, this school “shared” space with an existing public school; CPS poured tens of millions of dollars into the traditional school; closed the traditional school, and the charter school reaped the benefits. It should be noted that one of the schools that closed was performing at a higher level than the charter school that remained open.
• The US Secretary of Education has placed this charter high school on the highest negative sanctions for performance . In spite of this, the school is being touted as a national model for educating African American children.
I don’t see charters as the solution to our schools problems. Like any other tool, they are only as effective as the leadership and strategies that support their use.
It's called reading the article...
Fall 2010 and 2011 Openings
• Another Chicago International charter in Riverdale (Fall 2010)
Noble Street has a location at 7200 S. Ingleside now (opened 2008), and Urban Prep's new location in South Shore community is still to be decided (to open fall 2010). So while the new building is supposed to house neighborhood students, it will also have to have a magnet component in order to be filled (or house UP).
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