UNO charter schools expansion continues
On April 20, 2010, the Chicago Board of Education's Office of New Schools and UNO held a hearing to hear public comment on two proposals that will be voted upon at the April Board of Education meeting to be held on April 28 at 125 S. Clark Street. By the close of the meeting, there were approximately 30 people in attendance. The first proposal is to allow UNO to open a Gage Park campus in what is now McKinley Park Elementary School. Students from McKinley Park will be moving in the fall to a new campus nearby. The second proposal is to allow UNO to move back to the St. Roman’s campus at 2651 W. 23rd Street from their current location in the former De La Cruz facility at 2317 W. 23rd Place.
Hearing officer Margaret Fitzpatrick (above right) has been doing hearings for CPS for at least two years, and presided over the hearing on the UNO Gage Park location on April 20, 2010. Substance photo by Kristine Mayle.Margaret Fitzpatrick, an attorney often hired by the Board of Education to preside over school closing and charter school proposal hearings, ran the hearing. Jaime Guzman from the Office of New Schools spoke briefly to explain the plan, which stemmed from a what is called a "Material Modification Proposal" submitted by UNO in March. Guzman reported that the Board of Education had previously approved UNO’s Gage Park campus in 2009.
Francisco D’Escoto represented UNO and thanked CPS for granting them their temporary home (for the Octavio Paz campus) in the De La Cruz facility (which was closed by the Board in June 2009, then given to UNO by September 2009). The reason for moving Octavio Paz at the time was that the UNO campus at St. Roman's was supposedly unsafe. D'Escoto stated that UNO and the Archdiocese had come to an agreement to complete work on the St. Roman’s facility and that UNO would be making interior repairs including a new kitchen.
There were only four speakers during public testimony.
This reporter was the first person called. I spoke about how UNO’s privatization was destroying public schools by taking resources from them. I pointed out that Guzman had stated that the Board of Education would be voting on this proposal next week, but yet UNO had flyered the neighborhood surrounding the Octavio Paz campus with advertisements stating that their new campus would be located at the St. Roman’s building before the Board had voted. I also noted that while the state of Illinois is in the midst of a budget crisis, UNO was given $98 million just last year. I suggested that the money be invested in public schools that serve all students and not those that are hand-picked.
Identifying himself as a satisfied UNO parent, Enrique Dominguez (above) testified at the hearing. Substance photo by Kristine Mayle.The remaining speakers Enrique Dominguez, a parent of two students at the UNO Tamayo campus, Ana Tellez, a parent of six at another UNO campus, and Elsa Gonzalez, a grandmother of students at another campus. All presented similar statements. They thanked UNO for providing their students with opportunities, praised the discipline within UNO, and spoke of service to the community.
Gonzalez spoke the longest, beginning her testimony by saying, “I must admit, I never believed in public education.” She continued to say that she felt sorry for the teachers that had lost their jobs, but stated that she didn’t believe UNO had anything to do with it.
Two teachers from Nathan Davis Elementary were present in the audience. They were concerned that UNO opening in the area would eventually lead to a loss of students from their school. Davis is already anticipating a loss of students in Fall 2010, when their branch building closes.
UNO employees monitor the remarks of parents who routinely praise UNO's charter schools and bash the city's public schools. UNO's anti- union stance is never discussed by UNO at the hearings, nor is the fact that UNO charter schools are among the most racially segregated in the city, excluding almost all black children. Substance photo by Kristine Mayle. Approximately 500 students will be moving to the new McKinley Park building, which will mean a loss of nearly 20 teaching positions.
By: Edwardo Gutieres
UNO is about power, not learning
"Juan the Don" Rangel is a power hungry megalomaniac who would sleep with the devil for more power. He doesn't care about schools. He runs a sanitation company that owns schools. UNO gets lots of money but little of it goes to schools.
The city worked with Juan the Don to close De La Cruz so he could move in from St Romans, and in less than a year he announces UNO is moving back. Who is paying for this extravagance? We are.
Charter schools are a band aid to Chicago's decades of poor management. It will destroy the lives of Chicago children because charter schools play by no rules. They're about money, and man do they make it. Jaun the Don just happens to be the most corrupt.