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Parents and teachers urge CPS to intervene as charter operators plan closures; ChiArts community fights to preserve conservatory model
Summary
At the Oct. 23 board meeting, dozens of parents, teachers and union leaders urged CPS to step in as Acero, EPIC, Espira and Shai Arts face closures, layoffs or management changes; speakers asked CPS to protect staff, keep school communities intact, and preserve Shai Arts’ conservatory model.
A steady line of parents, teachers and union representatives told the Chicago Board of Education on Oct. 23 that charter operators’ decisions to close or reduce services are destabilizing students and communities and urged the district to intervene.
Jen Conant, chair of the CTU’s charter division, said EPIC, Shai Arts, Acero and Espira face urgent threats and called on CPS to provide management or other supports so school communities can remain intact. She told the board that EPIC’s board committed to closure while enrollment dropped and that Espira faces an operating deficit of about $1,800,000 this year and plans a mid-quarter workforce reduction that could disrupt special-education and ESL delivery.
Speakers from Acero and Santiago/Esmerelda Santiago School pressed the board to guarantee positions for existing staff if CPS transitions schools to district management. Several teachers and parents warned that re-opening buildings under new CPS principals without retaining current educators would break community trust and lead families to leave the schools.
Shai Arts (ChiArts) students, alumni, teachers and parents delivered repeated, personal appeals to preserve the school’s conservatory model, which relies on working artists and part-time teaching artists and provides 8-to-5 preprofessional training. Multiple speakers described high college-going rates among graduates and emotional reliance on the conservatory. Teachers asked CPS to find targeted funding and partnerships that would allow the district-managed option to retain the conservatory’s core elements and existing staff.
Chief Alfonso Carmona responded that CPS has created five advisory councils for the transition schools, is accelerating principal selection and intends to keep schools “as close as possible to what they look like today,” but noted constraints such as staff certifications, residency and some employees’ unwillingness to work for a district-operated school. Carmona said the district is working to secure funding commitments needed to preserve costly elements such as conservatory programming and cautioned against underfunding a model that might fail without long-term resources.
Parent and community pleas for a clear timetable and guarantees of staff retention, alongside union demands for impact bargaining and commitments on use of a proposed TIF surplus, framed the discussion. Board members requested written updates from CPS on Acero transitions and on the staffing plans for schools the district proposes to manage.
Next steps: CPS said a memo with additional updates would be provided to the board (Chief Carmona), the district will proceed with advisory-council interviews and principal selections for the transition schools, and board members asked for written reports and more robust community engagement before votes.
