The Chicago School Board on Tuesday will vote to take over Chicago High School for the Arts and to allow a small charter high school in South Chicago to close, but questions remain unresolved as board members confront the difficult issue of what to do when the boards of publicly funded, privately run schools decide to walk away.
Under the proposal being considered, ChiArts would become a district-run fine arts magnet school, but it remains unclear what will happen to its lauded and expensive conservatory in which students get three hours of arts classes every day. CPS officials previously proposed making the conservatory open to all students, not just ones enrolled in ChiArts, but board members say ChiArts families were unhappy with that proposal.
Meanwhile, teachers of Epic Charter School with its mostly low-income, Black and Latino students, say they have been given no information about what will happen to them next year.
“CPS is proposing no plan for students, no plan for families, no plan for staff, no effort to keep the community together,” said social studies teacher Andrew Escalante. “And it’s frustrating to see other schools like ChiArts be included in conversations about their future while Epic families have been left out completely.”
Escalante also said the school has heard virtually nothing from school board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith, in whose district the school is located. Smith did not return calls Monday from WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Board member Jitu Brown tried at a board meeting last week to make two changes to the proposal to close Epic. He wanted to make sure that students would be able to transfer to a high-performing CPS school, and to the extent possible, they could stay together with their teachers.
He also wanted to ensure that any assets would return to the school district after the closure of Epic. Epic, which is housed in an old CPS school, bought a new building with hopes of renovating it and expanding.
But then Epic ran into financial difficulties, and its leaders say the charter school is in such bad shape that they will soon run out of money. Board members will consider giving the charter $1.4 million just so it can finish the school year.
Brown and other board members want to make sure that any assets from Epic are returned to the district after the charter closes.
When Brown attempted to make these changes last week, questions arose about whether these proposals were legal or logistically feasible. Brown said school district officials will propose some new language Tuesday.
Conservatory questions
Tuesday’s vote would mean ChiArts stays open, but it could operate differently than it does now, to the chagrin of parents and students. The school draws students from across the city. About 45% of the students are Latino; 36% are Black and 15% are white. About 60% of its students come from low-income families.
ChiArts students spend five hours a day in academic classes and three hours every afternoon in a conservatory where they focus on an arts discipline, such as dance, visual arts or theater. CPS pays for the academic portion of students’ days, while the money for its conservatory program comes from a foundation that is supported by donors through the ChiArts Foundation.
Without that foundation, the conservatory program, which would be run by the CPS Department of Arts Education, would be financed by the district. The transition from a contract school to a district-run school would cost about $1.5 million over the next two years. If the board decides to keep the conservatory open, it would have to allocate $600,000 this year. After that it could cost up to $5.5 million a year to keep it operating.
The board would have to approve a separate item at a future meeting to create a district-run conservatory. The school serves 550 students.
Board member Debby Pope said that although the conservatory model has been a “wonderful asset” to the city that the board would like to see continue, the district has its own financial struggles to contend with, making funds scarce. She said the future of the conservatory might depend on private charitable funding.
“CPS can put some money into this project, but CPS has equity issues, CPS has concerns for students all over the city. We can’t take money for improving education in Englewood and Roseland or something and apply it to the conservatory,” Pope said. “So at least some of that is going to depend on the extent to which the charitable community can step up.”
Rousemary Vega, whose daughter is a first-year student at ChiArts, is among the parents who have shown up at past board meetings urging them to keep the school operating as is. Vega said parents aren’t sure what the district has planned for the conservatory model, but they don’t want to see it altered.
“We’re hoping that they can not only keep ChiArts open but to keep it open in the model that it is now,” Vega said. “It’s what makes ChiArts ChiArts.”
She said many families chose the Humboldt Park school despite it being far from their neighborhoods because of its unique conservatory model. If it changes, families may leave, she said.
Some parents have told Vega that “if the school becomes a regular high school, it won’t be worth the drive,” she said.
Isabel Cabrera makes that drive for her daughter, who is studying musical theater at ChiArts, from their home in South Shore.
The trip can take as long as an hour and 20 minutes with traffic, she said. But she doesn’t mind because her daughter is flourishing thanks to the conservatory model, which gives her space to express herself, Cabrera said.
If the school model is changed “that’s concerning because there’s nothing that could replace ChiArts.”