Chicago Public Schools officials are recommending that the school board approve a plan to take over Chicago High School for the Arts, but warned that, as a district-run school, the contract school will have to operate differently than it does now. They are also recommending that a small charter high school in South Chicago be allowed to close at the end of this year.
ChiArts students currently spend five hours a day in academic classes and three hours every afternoon in a conservatory where they focus on an art discipline, such as dance, visual arts or theater. Under the plan, It would become a magnet high school with a fine arts focus. The conservatory would continue, but it would be an after- school program that students from across the city could attend.
Officials want the Chicago Board of Education to consider these plans at their Oct. 23 board meeting so that families can plan.
Though CPS officials suggested letting EPIC Academy close, they recommended that the board provide $1.4 million to keep Epic Academy open for the rest of the school year. Epic, which currently serves 250 students, has been struggling with declines in enrollment.
The school boards at both of the privately run, publicly funded institutions recently announced they planned to stop operations after this school year, citing financial deficits. Parents, teachers and students at those schools have called on the district to take them over and keep the communities together.
Both of the schools’ contracts were recently renewed by CPS and their abrupt closure has reignited debate over charter school oversight, with some attendees at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting asking the district to reassess its renewal process.
Board member Yesenia Lopez wondered whether school operators have shared all pertinent financial information with them in making those decisions. She noted that the board heard from Epic leaders in May when they voted to renew the school for two years.
“Fast forward a few months later and now we are hearing this notice from their board,” Lopez said. “It makes no sense. In a way I feel like there was information not shared with us, not honesty, no transparency.”
District officials urged the board to vote on its recommendation for ChiArts at its board meeting later this month so families can have time to make decisions about their students before the Nov. 14 school application deadline. Meanwhile a transition plan should be drawn up for students at Epic, officials said.
Alfonso Carmona, chief portfolio officer at CPS, said the district is working to “ensure that the vast majority of the students either go to one school or stay as close together as possible.” They are trying to do the same with teachers but Carmona noted that some of them aren’t certified so that might not be possible.
Carmona noted that the recommendation for ChiArts will require some additional funding from the district. The five-hour academic portion of students’ days is paid for by CPS, but 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, have to be financed by the district. Officials estimated that cost at $2.5 million per year.
At Wednesday’s meeting a group of ChiArts students, teachers and parents attended asked the board not only to keep the school open but to preserve its conservatory program, which is unique in the city.
Nuriyah Johnson, a junior at ChiArts concentrating in singing, said ChiArts allowed her to chase her passion and is teaching her how to turn that into a career, all without charging her family expensive fees.
“I’ve known from a young age that I was born to be a singer and that I want to use my gift for a lifelong job. ChiArts has made that dream come alive,” Johnson said “If CPS doesn’t absorb our school and continue our conservatory style model we lose a community that teaches students that their creativity is important.”
Aracely Madrigal, parent of a 15-year-old at ChiArts, said the school does more than teach art. It teaches students to value diversity and exposes them to different cultures and ideas.
“There is no other place like it in Chicago, no place that takes children from all ZIP codes, all walks of life and weaves art into the fabric of their day,” Madrigal said. “What happens inside ChArts is something magical, therapeutic really.”
Speakers also called for more accountability for operators of charter schools and for more transparency so parents aren’t caught by surprise by the closures. Some called for the state to step in and investigate.
That call was echoed by the teachers union, who also implored the board to fix its renewal process to avoid similar situations in the future.
“Decisions about the future of schools cannot be made in isolation from families, staff and communities they impact, but that’s what the corporate board of directors at charter schools have been allowed to do,” said Caroline Rutherford, CTU Charter division vice chair.
“Charter operators should be investigated and we alongside parents hope you will choose to act to be proactive, to listen to us about the continuing instability and be partners in not just saving these school communities today but also planning for the long term,” she said.
But some speakers spoke in favor of charter schools, pushing back against accusations that the model is a “failed experiment.”
Tracie Sanlin, CEO of Chicago Collegiate Charter School, touted millions in merit-based scholarship money and college acceptances that students have earned at the school as proof of its success.
“We are not a failure, and it hasn’t been too bad for a failed experiment,” Sanlin said.