Neighborhood Fights to Keep Charter School Out
A building that housed an award-winning neighborhood school in Chicago is now home to a charter school. That’s thanks to a Board of Education vote Wednesday night. School officials say the deal is for one year only. But the way it came together is stoking neighborhood mistrust of the district.
De La Cruz Academy was a middle school in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood--and a good one, judging by an academic achievement award in February from the State of Illinois.
But Chicago Public Schools pointed to declining enrollment and closed De La Cruz in June. The district insists the plan was to demolish the building and sell the land.
But the closing created an opportunity.
RANGEL: Octavio Paz, our flagship school, finds itself without a home, just a few weeks before school opening.
Juan Rangel is chief executive officer of UNO, short for the United Neighborhood Organization. UNO works closely with Mayor Richard Daley and runs charter schools on seven campuses in the city.
A $98 million state grant this year will help the group build more but, Rangel says, not fast enough for Octavio Paz. UNO has been housing part of that school in an old Catholic facility near Pilsen.
RANGEL: The building around us has been collapsing. Masonry has been falling on the sidewalks. A canopy had to be erected around the church. It’s a situation that actually has been about a year and a half in the making.
Chicago Public Schools says Rangel didn’t approach the district for help until late July. This month, the district called UNO’s plight an emergency and announced it wouldn’t tear down De La Cruz after all. The new plan? House Octavio Paz in the building for one year, virtually rent-free.
And that’s angering supporters of Pilsen’s neighborhood schools. They point to an UNO charter school that arrived in Pilsen a few years ago. They say it siphons off students and resources and worry a second UNO school will do the same...
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