Union busting Chicago-style, as majority of featured 'New Schools' are anti-union... CPS 'New Schools Expo' January 29 to tout charter schools and AUSL 'turnarounds' while ignoring true public schools
The 2011 "New Schools Expo" sponsored by the Chicago Board of Education and others will once again exclude Chicago's real public schools while touting the city's ever-expanding charter schools. The event will take place at Soldier Field (indoors in the "United Club") on Saturday, January 29, from 9:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m. In a new wrinkle this year, the New Schools Expo will also promote the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL) "turnaround" schools. CPS officials have no explanation as to why the city's regular public schools, many of which are "new" or desirable, are deliberately excluded from the event.
The New Schools Expo in January 2009 (above, at the Soldier Field United Club) still featured a few regular Chicago public schools, although it was featuring more and more charter schools by that time. By 2010, charter schools had become the central focus of the event. As seen above, the majority of parents and children at the Expo are African American, whom CPS officials and charter school marketers are trying to manipulate into making the charter school "choice" by denigrating regular public schools and hyping the charters. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.Although a handful of the so-called "New Schools" featured at the Expo are unionized, the majority of those that are being touted by CPS and others for the January 29 event are non-union, and several of them are viciously anti-union. For the first time, the New Schools Expo seems to be designed to feature only those "turnaround" schools being managed, at a cost of more than $300,000 extra per year in management fees, by the Academy for Urban School Leadership, while CPS managed turnaround schools (for example, Marshall and Fenger high schools) are not allowed at the event.
Now in its fourth year, the "New Schools Expo" has evolved from an event that provides parents and community members with the opportunity to see a range of Chicago public schools to this year's event, which is simply to promote the city's every-expanding charter schools and a handful of privately managed "turnaround" schools at the expense of all of the other public schools in the city, new or otherwise. For the first time, the majority of the schools featured at the "New Schools Expo" are non-union schools, since the small schools, military academies, and other speciality public schools are now excluded from the "New Schools Expo." Even the "turnaround" schools not being managed by AUSL (which operates union schools) have been excluded.
From its small beginnings at the Williams "Multiplex" school in the Dearborn Homes housing project in February 2008, the New Schools Expo has gradually evolved into an event designed and promoted to provide Chicago parents with the "choice" of charter schools only. In past years, Chicago has provided parents with a complete catalogue of all public schools, charter and otherwise. Two years ago, the catalogue was delayed by Arne Duncan's administration until after the deadline for many of the city's selective enrollment public schools had passed, in December 2008. As Duncan was becoming U.S. Secretary of Education in January 2009, the New Schools Expo was still featuring regular public schools, including the expanding military academies and the remaining "small schools" (which by then were being abandoned by CPS after the Gates Foundation, which had promoted "small schools", began promoting "turnaround" instead with a $19 million grant to Chicago Public Schools).
By 2011, the number of true public schools scheduled to be featured at the so-called "New Schools Expo" had decreased to the smallest number in history. "Small Schools" are no longer welcome at the New Schools Expo. The military schools are not listed in the program. And parents are no longer provided with the catalogue which gave them information about all of the city's public schools, not just the charter schools.
Another feature of the "New Schools Expo" that provides observers with irony is the fact that the majority of the people who attend the Expo are African Americans, but the overwhelming majority of the charter schools in Chicago are segregated. African American parents will have the choice of selecting charter schools that are 100 percent African American, while being exclude, directly or indirectly, from those charter schools (especially those sponsored by UNO) that are segregated and Latino.
The New Schools Expo 2011 announcement on the Web contains the following information (published here verbatim from the announcement).
New Schools EXPO, Saturday, January 29, 2011, 9:00AM-3:00PM, Soldier Field, 1410 South Museum Campus Drive, United Club Level One (indoors)
2011 Participating School or School Network
Academy for Global Citizenship Charter School
Amandla Charter School
Architecture, Construction, and Engineering (ACE) Technical Charter School
ASPIRA Charter School - Early College High School Campus
ASPIRA Charter School - Haugan Middle School Campus
ASPIRA Charter School - Mirta Ramirez Computer Science High School Campus
Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy
Betty Shabazz International Charter School - Barbara A. Sizemore Academy Campus
Betty Shabazz International Charter School - Betty Shabazz Campus
Betty Shabazz International Charter School - DuSable Leadership Academy Campus
Bronzeville Lighthouse Charter School
Catalyst Charter School - Howland
Catalyst Elementary Charter School - Circle Rock
Charles S Deneen Elementary School (AUSL)
The Chicago Academy (AUSL)
Chicago Academy High School (AUSL)
Chicago Academy for Advanced Technology (CAAT)
Chicago International Charter School - Avalon/South Shore Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Basil Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Bucktown Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Irving Park Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Larry Hawkins Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Lloyd Bond Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Longwood Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Loomis Primary Academy
Chicago International Charter School - Northtown Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Prairie Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Ralph Ellison Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Washington Park Campus
Chicago International Charter School - West Belden Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Wrightwood Campus
Chicago International Charter School - Quest #1 Campus
Chicago Math and Science Academy (CMSA) Charter School
Chicago Talent Development Charter High School
Chicago Virtual Charter School
Collins Academy High School (AUSL)
Community Services West Career Academy
Daniel Hale Williams Prep School of Medicine
DeVry Advantage Academy High School
Dodge Renaissance Academy (AUSL)
EPIC Academy Charter High School
Erie Elementary Charter School
Galapagos Charter School
Garfield Park Preparatory Academy
George W Curtis Elementary School (AUSL)
Henry Ford Academy: Power House Charter High School
Hope Institute Learning Academy
Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy Charter High School
James Weldon Johnson Elementary School (AUSL)
John Foster Dulles Elementary School (AUSL)
John Harvard Elementary School of Excellence (AUSL)
Julia Ward Howe Elementary School of Excellence (AUSL)
KIPP Ascend Charter School Kwame Nkrumah Academy
L.E.A.R.N. Charter School - 3rd Campus
L.E.A.R.N. Charter School - 5th Campus
L.E.A.R.N. Charter School - Excel Campus
L.E.A.R.N. Charter School - Romano Butler Campus
L.E.A.R.N. Charter School - South Chicago Campus
Legacy Charter School
Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School (AUSL)
Morton School of Excellence (AUSL)
Myra Bradwell Communications Arts & Sciences ES (AUSL)
Namaste Charter School National Teachers Academy (AUSL)
Noble Street Charter School - Chicago Bulls College Prep Campus
Noble Street Charter School – Englewood Campus
Noble Street Charter School - Gary Comer College Prep Campus
Noble Street Charter School - Golder College Prep Campus
Noble Street Charter School - Muchin College Prep Campus
Noble Street Charter School - Noble Campus
Noble Street Charter School - Pritzker College Prep Campus
Noble Street Charter School - Rauner College Prep Campus
Noble Street Charter School - Rowe-Clark Math and Science Academy Campus
Noble Street Charter School - UIC Campus
North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School - Christiana Campus
North Lawndale College Preparatory Charter High School - Collins Campus
Ogden International High School
Orr Academy High School (AUSL)
Perspectives Charter School - Calumet High School Campus
Perspectives Charter School - Calumet Middle School Campus
Perspectives Charter School - Calumet School of Technology Campus
Perspectives Charter School - Math and Science Academy Campus
Perspectives Charter School - Rodney D. Joslin Campus
Plato Learning Academy
Polaris Charter Academy
Providence Englewood Charter School
Rowe Elementary Charter School
Solorio Academy High School (AUSL)
South Shore Fine Arts Academy
Tarkington School of Excellence ES (AUSL)
TEAM Englewood Community Academy High School
University of Chicago Charter School - Carter G. Woodson Campus
University of Chicago Charter School - Donoghue Campus
University of Chicago Charter School - North Kenwood/Oakland (NKO) Campus
University of Chicago Charter School - Woodlawn Campus
UNO Charter School - Bartolomé de las Casas Campus
UNO Charter School - Carlos Fuentes Campus
UNO Charter School - Elementary Campus
UNO Charter School - Gage Park Campus
UNO Charter School - Major Hector P. Garcia MD Campus
UNO Charter School - Octavio Paz Campus
