Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the School Closures topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
CTU asks Chicago Board to demand apology and a transition plan after CPS emails omit board amendments for EPIC Academy
Summary
A CTU representative told the Chicago Board that a CPS email to EPIC families omitted board-approved amendments and the transition-plan language the board intended; the union asked the board to demand an apology, require a collaboratively developed transition plan, and issue corrected communications to families and staff.
Jan Conant, CTU charter division chair, told the Chicago Board of Education on Nov. 10 that the district’s email to EPIC families ‘‘omits everything you all included’’ after the board unanimously approved amendments intended to create a transition plan that would preserve community continuity.
Conant said the CPS email instead described a ‘‘wind down plan where every student enrolls somewhere else’’ with no mention of selecting or creating a receiving school or otherwise maximizing continuity for EPIC families and qualified staff. ‘‘Demand that CPS apologize to EPIC families and staff for not doing a better job communicating,’’ she told the board, and asked members to ‘‘demand CPS develop a transition plan with families and staff and actually commit to that plan.’’
Conant also criticized CPS communications timing, noting a parent meeting scheduled for 1 p.m. on a Monday that she said many working parents cannot attend while a Shire Arts community meeting is scheduled at 5:30 p.m. She said staff at EPIC had received no communication about a transition plan and that the district had not contacted EPIC staff as the board had been told it would.
Beyond EPIC, Conant raised concerns about some charter operators (transcribed in public comment as ‘‘Spira/Aspira/ Espira’’), saying the operators’ financial situations appear unclear and describing recent layoffs and changes to substitute-teacher practices. She told the board these operational decisions ‘‘seem to be haphazard and without a comprehensive plan to stabilize our schools.’’
The remarks were part of a public comment period; no formal board response to Conant’s specific requests appears in the meeting record. The board recessed and later recorded votes on procedural motions but did not take a documented substantive action in response to the EPIC requests during the special meeting.
