Of seven Acero charter school campuses that had been targeted for closure by the network, five will remain open for the 2025-26 school year. JC Navarrete has the story.
Of seven Acero charter school campuses that had been targeted for closure by the network, five will remain open for the 2025-26 school year after a Board of Education vote.
That vote took place Thursday afternoon, with the board voting by a margin of 16-3 to keep Cisneros, Fuentes, Santiago, Casas and Tamayo schools open for the 2025-26 school year.
The board will permit the closure of Sor Juana Inéz, located in the West Ridge neighborhood, and Octavio Paz Elementary in the Little Village neighborhood.
Originally, the Acero network had planned to close all seven schools because of increasing personnel costs and declining enrollment, but the move had sparked an outpouring of anger and pushes to keep the schools open.
The board had also faced warnings that keeping more than four of the schools open would represent a significant fiscal challenge, and could violate state law that mandates specific funding levels be reached for the schools.
The seven schools serve more than 2,000 students, most of which are primarily Latino, according to officials.
While parents at five of the schools celebrated the vote, there were plenty who shed tears after the announcements that Paz and Inéz would still be closing.
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“Where are our kids supposed to go? When these schools close, what future are they going to have when they close these schools,” one parent told NBC Chicago.
According to the Chicago School Board, children from the closed schools will be accommodated at other Chicago Public Schools and Acero Campuses throughout the network.
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Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates issued a statement following the vote.
“An unaccountable, privately-operated charter company said it was going to do whatever it wanted and shut down schools and the Board of Education said, ‘no.’ That is historic,” she said. “Thanks to the advocacy of mothers and educators, the mayor of Chicago and the Board of Education members elected by the people of Chicago and appointed by the mayor had to send the message that school choice in Chicago doesn’t just mean charter companies get to choose to put investors ahead of schools and students any more.”
