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CTU and parents urge CPS to correct EPIC Academy communications, craft transition plan and address charter operator instability
Summary
CTU charter division chair and parents told the Chicago Board of Education that a CPS email about EPIC Academy omitted board amendments and a transition plan; they demanded an apology, a community-developed transition plan that includes staff, and oversight of charter operators reportedly cutting staff and failing to pay substitute vendors.
Jen Conant, identified as CTU’s charter division chair, opened public comment at the Chicago Board of Education’s Nov. 10 special meeting by thanking board members for amendments to a board report on EPIC Academy and saying district communications had undermined the board’s intent.
Conant said a CPS email sent to families “talks about a wind down plan where every student enrolls somewhere else” but “there is no mention of creating a transition plan” that would “maximize stability and continuity for EPIC families and qualified staff, including choosing a receiving school.” She told the board the message “omits everything you all included.”
Conant asked the board to take three specific steps: “Demand that CPS apologize to EPIC families and staff,” require CPS to “develop a transition plan with families and staff and actually commit to that plan,” and direct CPS to “send a follow-up communication to families with corrections, including saying they need family input on a transition plan and that you can send a similar one to staff.”
Conant also raised concerns about financial instability at charter operators, saying that Espira/Azpira had not been transparent about finances, had recently enacted layoffs and was not hiring substitute teachers at two of three schools, and that substitute vendors had not been paid. “This opens up a lot of questions,” she said, and warned that short-term cost-cutting choices may produce long-term harms to student services.
Why it matters: EPIC families and staff told the board they expected the district to honor the board’s amendments and to engage stakeholders in planning transitions when a school closes. Conant framed the issue as both a communications failure and a governance gap that could aggravate harms from closures.
Next steps: Public participation ended at the meeting and the board moved into a closed session later in the agenda; the board did not announce any immediate corrective action in public during the Nov. 10 session.
