Following months of protest — and blame — regarding Chicago Public Schools response to seven school closures that charter operator Acero Schools announced in October, the Chicago Board of Education on Friday finalized the array of support the district will provide the approximately 2,000 impacted students, who are predominantly Latino.
With a 6-0 vote, the board passed a resolution ordering CPS to fund a bail out that will allow the charter operator to keep all seven of its locations open next year instead of closing them as planned in the summer. CPS will subsequently convert five of the locations into district-managed schools where it will assume operations as of the start of the 2026-2027 school year.
The Friday night crowd occasionally erupted in applause, as speakers urged the board to pass the Acero resolution — and either advocated for members to resist calls for CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’s termination, 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 in his usual perch on stage.
Public speakers gave emotional speeches, some in Spanish, to sitting board members.
“We will not accept being erased from the map. We are parents, grandparents, uncles, we are an integrated family that demands a quality education for our children,” said Anayeli Salgado, an Octavio Paz Elementary School parent who said the school community is demoralized and distraught.
The Little Village school is among the two Acero locations that the vote Friday did not direct CPS to transform into district-run schools. Barring future intervention, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a K-12 in West Ridge, will also close at the end of next school year, though the Board’s resolution directs CPS to evaluate the viability of absorbing the pair as well.
An estimated $3.2M will be required to keep all of the schools open next year, according to a district presentation that estimated up to $28 million would be needed to then convert and operate all seven locations as district-run schools.
Speaking alongside families, Caroline Rutherford, vice chair of the Chicago Teachers Union’s charter division, called on Board members to pass the resolution — and demanded that Acero be required to devote its reserve funds to the costs CPS will be taking on to ensure the schools remain open next year.
“Parents and educators and students have built communities that feel like families in these schools and we need people to continue to fight to keep these families together,” Rutherford said. “We are here to say we need a decision and we need it now. Our students cannot wait any longer.”
Rutherford also called out Acero leadership for not showing up at Friday’s meeting.
“Is Acero here today?” she asked. “I’m gonna go with no.”
Asked for comment following the resolution, Acero leadership did not immediately respond.
Multiple speakers, including elected officials, weighed in on whether the current seven-member body should be making the momentous decisions under consideration at the meeting Friday. In January, a partially elected Board of 21 members will be seated.
“You are setting us up to make some of the hardest decisions that CPS will ever face,” said Jennifer Custer, a CPS parent who won her bid for the District 1 Board seat in the November general election.
Jackson Potter, Vice President of the Chicago Teachers Union said the Board must act with urgency on Acero. “Anyone who sits on their hands increases the likelihood that the seven Acero schools will close,” Potter said, describing the prospect as the greatest closure of predominantly Latino schools in the nation’s history. “I salute you for taking on these critical decisions in perilous times.”
Following the board vote, Chief Portfolio Officer 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, both the charter operator and board will have to jointly agree on the terms of a memorandum of understanding — including a plan to cover Acero’s financial deficits — that will allow the charter operator to maintain the seven campuses until the end of next school year.
At the two schools, Paz and de la Cruz, which aren’t currently slated to be absorbed by the district the following year, CPS said it will provide updates to families as it completes its evaluation of whether it will be viable for the district to do so, Carmona’s letter said. CPS will also hold regular virtual office hours to support the Acero community, he added.
Parents and students celebrated the news Friday, cheering “¡Si se pudo! Yes, we did it!” Several were in tears.
“This fight was for today,” said Gloria Miranda, who had two children graduate from Casas Elementary School, 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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