Chicago Board of Ed votes to keep 5 of 7 Acero Charter School campuses open

CHICAGO (WGN) — Acero Charter School parents and students were left in a state of uncertainty Thursday, as Chicago’s Board of Education (CBOE) voted on a measure that will force the closure of two schools under their umbrella.

At the publication of this article, CBOE voted to keep five of seven Acero schools open. Octavio Paz Elementary in Little Village and Sor Juana Ines De La Cruz’s K-12 campus in Rogers Park are set to close, but no clear timetable for when that will happen has been put in place.

In a statement issued ahead of the meeting, a spokesperson for CPS said, “A joint analysis between the District and Acero of the funding needs for the campuses revealed that CPS would not legally be able to fund Acero at the level needed to maintain all campuses, considering enrollment loss and the significant need for facility investments at the campuses.”

Before the vote went down, some in the community said their worst-case scenario was all seven schools considered for closure being shut down. But with five campuses saved for now, many considered it a victory, while others believed it doubled as a moment of relief.

“It’s been a 141 days and we’ve been asking for answers,” said Caroline Rutherford, an art teacher for Acero Charter Schools. “Today, this gave us answers.”

Acero principals and teachers like Rutherford said what needs to happen next is a transition plan for Paz Elementary and De La Cruz’s K-12 campus.

“We need to have more conversations with both CPS and Acero on what that plan looks like for Paz and Cruz,” Rutherford said.

At a rally earlier in the day, Brittney DeLeon—a math teacher at Esmeralda Santiago Elementary in Humboldt Park—expressed frustrations by what she said are broken promises and ever-changing proposals to keep an undetermined number of Acero campuses open. It was a sentiment shared by many in the crowd.

“How are we still here?” DeLeon said.

Back in October, Acero’s board voted to close seven of its 15 locations across Chicago.

Chicago Public School officials later proposed several options to save the schools to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s school board. This came after months of protest in the community and ended with them recommending the plan that went on to pass in a unanimous vote.

The plan boiled down to CPS agreeing to give Acero—a charter school under the CPS umbrella, but privately managed—additional money to keep all seven schools that were up for closure, open through next school year. CPS would then take over operations of five of those schools the year after that.

However, as negotiations continued between CPS and Acero in the months that followed, the plan fell through, leading to the about-face that happened at Thursday’s monthly CBOE meeting.