Acero Charter School parents vow to fight “with all their might” to keep the schools open

GAGE PARK – Parents and students on the Southwest Side are pushing back against Acero Schools' decision to close seven charter schools in predominantly Latino neighborhoods in Chicago.

Lucy Salgado, a mother of third- and fifth-graders at Tamayo Elementary School in Gage Park, said at a protest outside the school Friday that she will “fight the school closures to the end.” Salgado organized the rally in Tamayo, coordinating with parent representatives from other Acero schools that will close next school year. More rallies are planned at several schools in the coming days.

The Chicago Teachers Union also opposes the decision and is organizing with teachers and parents at all seven schools, who have sent more than 1,000 emails to Acero's board and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, said Rebecca Martinez, campaign manager for the Chicago Teachers Union . Dozens of teachers union petitions are being distributed among parents, students and teachers at schools, rallies and meetings.

Last Friday, over 150 parents, students and teachers stood in front of Tamayo Elementary School and fought to save the school.

To the sounds of “Sí, se puede” — “Yes, we can” — families and teachers held signs expressing the concern, disappointment and uncertainty of parents and students. One said: “I learned a lot here and grew up here. Don’t take Tamayo with you.”

“I don’t want the school to close. I would miss my friends,” said 11-year-old Tamayo student Stephanie, who lives in Gage Park.

Ald. Jeylú Gutierrez (14th) and Raymond Lopez (15th) also took part in a rally in front of Tamayo School on Friday afternoon. Gutierrez called on Acero's board to meet with the Tamayo families and “provide the answers they deserve” because the decision to close the school left the families “in limbo.”

The school serves a student body that is 98% Latino, 91% low-income and 15% has an individualized learning program, data shows.

About 36% of Tamayo Elementary students met or exceeded reading proficiency levels on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, the state's annual standardized test, according to data from the Illinois Board of Education. That average among Chicago Public Schools students was about 30.5%, according to data. Mathematics results are at the level of the district average.

“The teachers are doing something really well and the kids are learning,” Salgado said.

The “unfair and heartbreaking” decision to close has left parents struggling to make plans for the next school year, several parents at Tamayo and Cisneros elementary schools said.

At a parent meeting with Ald. Julia Ramirez, 12, Cisnero's parent Griselda Haro, said her sixth-grade daughter is afraid of being bullied when she starts a new school. Cisneros is more than a school; “It’s a family,” she said.

“When the decision was announced, my daughter and I cried. She said to me, “Mom, what should I do?” “They're going to bully me at a new school,” Haro said. “It’s heartbreaking.”

Maria Sanchez, whose two grandchildren attend Cisneros Elementary School, also said her grandson is afraid of being bullied if he has to change schools.

“We are here to save their second home,” Sanchez said.

Cisneros 8th grade students Jasmin Rocha, Melody Soto and Ali Alrobaie told Ramirez they teamed up with students to collect signatures on a petition to keep the school open. They have siblings in school and it hurts to see their parents worrying about which school they will attend, they said.

“Even when we graduate, we want to help the little kids,” Rocha said. “I don’t want their education to be compromised.”

Several parents questioned how Acero Schools decided which schools to close and called for financial audits of the charter school network.

Acero officials said the schools have lost 1,400 students over the past eight years. But there are long waiting lists at Tamayo and Cisneros elementary schools, parents said.

“My granddaughter was on the waiting list [for Cisneros] for two years,” Sanchez said.

Yesenia Lopez, office coordinator at Tamayo Elementary Schools, said the school serves 270 students as of Friday. There is a waiting list of 82 students and the enrollment rate is 100% for the last 10 years. During the same period, the school has maintained a very low teacher rotation rate, with only one change in the last five years, she said.

Closing the school “was never even considered,” she said.

Acero's announcement, which caught teachers, staff and principals by surprise, has created uncertainty in the classroom. “Entire families and extended families” live at the school, with former students bringing their children back and “many cousins” attending the same elementary school, said Tamayor teacher Mary O'Brien-Combs.

“The school is magical, it’s very special,” O’Brien-Combs said.

This is particularly concerning for parents and students with special educational needs, several parents told Block Club.

Lopez, the Southwest Side city councilman, called on Mayor Brandon Johnson and Martinez to look for ways to keep all Acero schools open.

Ramirez told parents she would ask the Acero board to meet with parents to “provide the answers they deserve” and demand that CPS come up with plans to save the schools.

Six of seven Acero schools scheduled to close are in buildings owned by the Archdiocese of Chicago, which benefits from tax exemptions, Ramirez said.

The Archdiocese of Chicago also owns the closed St. Maurice Catholic Church in McKinley Park, which is home to the Velma Thomas Early Childhood Center. The Archdiocese of Chicago announced plans to sell the building, pushing for the closure of CPS's bilingual early childhood school, Ramirez said.

“It is very important that we clarify how the church will help us,” Ramirez said.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which represents all Acero school teachers, strongly opposes the decision. Rebecca Martinez called on CPS to intervene and prevent the closure of schools, a “failed practice” of the past.

The decision to close schools impacts the entire neighborhood beyond Acero school families, said Melina Pereyra, a Brighton Park mother whose children formerly attended Cisneros schools.

If Cisneros closes, it will impact other schools in the area. More students would enroll in neighborhood schools, increasing the number of students per teacher and potentially straining resources.

“It affects everyone in the neighborhood,” she said.

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