After months of protests — and blame — over Chicago Public Schools’ response to seven school closures announced by charter operator Acero Schools in October, the Chicago Board of Education on Friday finalized the package of support that the district will provide to the approximately 2,000 affected students, who are predominantly Latino.
With a 6-0 vote, the board passed a resolution directing CPS to fund a bailout that will allow the charter operator to keep its seven locations open next year instead of closing them as planned this summer. CPS will then convert five of those sites to district-operated schools, where it will assume operations beginning with the 2026-2027 school year.
The Friday night crowd erupted into applause at times, as speakers urged the board to pass the Acero resolution — and either pleaded for members to resist calls to fire CPS CEO Pedro Martinez or criticized his leadership. As board members discussed the district’s response to Acero’s planned closures of seven of its fifteen schools, Martinez sat quietly on his usual perch on stage.
Public speakers delivered moving speeches, some in Spanish, to sitting board members.
“We will not accept being wiped off the map. We are parents, grandparents, uncles, we are an integrated family that demands quality education for our children,” said Octavio Paz Elementary School parent Anayeli Salgado, who said the school community was demoralized and distraught.
The Little Village School is among two Acero sites that Friday’s vote did not direct CPS to turn into district-run schools. Barring future intervention, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a K-12 student at West Ridge, will also close at the end of next school year, although the board resolution directs CPS to evaluate also the viability of absorbing both.
An estimated $3.2 million will be needed to keep all schools open next year, according to a district presentation that estimates up to $28 million would be needed to then convert and operate the seven sites into district-run schools.
Speaking alongside the families, Caroline Rutherford, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union’s charter division, called on board members to pass the resolution – and demanded that Acero be forced to dedicate its funding reserve for the costs that the CPS will assume to guarantee the maintenance of the schools. open next year.
“Parents, educators and students have built communities that feel like families in these schools and we need people to continue fighting to keep these families together,” Rutherford said. “We are here to say we need a decision and we need it now. Our students can’t wait any longer.
Rutherford also criticized Acero executives for not showing up to Friday’s meeting.
“Is Acero here today?” she asked. “I’ll go without no.”
Asked for comment following the resolution, Acero executives did not immediately respond.
Several speakers, including elected officials, weighed in on whether the current seven-member body should make the major decisions considered at Friday’s meeting. In January, a partially elected 21-member board of directors will sit.
“You are preparing us to make some of the toughest decisions CPS will ever face,” said Jennifer Custer, a CPS parent who won her bid for the District 1 board seat in the general election of November.
Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said the board needs to act urgently regarding Acero. “Anyone sitting idly by increases the likelihood that the seven Acero schools will close,” Potter said, describing the prospect as the largest closure of predominantly Latino schools in the country’s history. “I salute you for making these critical decisions in perilous times.”
Following the board’s vote, Portfolio Director Alfonso Carmona sent a letter to the Acero community.
“I know the past few months have left your school communities anxious and uncertain,” he wrote, thanking families for making their voices heard.
According to the letter, the charter operator and the board of directors will have to agree on the terms of a memorandum of understanding – including a plan to cover Acero’s financial deficits – which will allow the charter operator to maintain the seven campuses until the end of next year. school year.
At the two schools, Paz and de la Cruz, that are not expected to be absorbed by the district next year, CPS said it will provide updates to families as it completes its assessment to find out if “It would be viable for the district to do so,” Carmona’s letter said. CPS will also host regular virtual office hours to support the Acero community, he added.
Parents and students celebrated the news Friday by applauding “¡If it were possible! Yes, we did it! Many were in tears.
“This fight was for today,” said Gloria Miranda, whose two children graduated from Casas Elementary, an Acero school on the Lower West Side slated for closure. “I know the board members are with us. They want improvement for us.
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