In Response to the Tribune Editorial Board on the UNO Galewood Expansion

Last week the Tribune put out a scathing editorial about Alderman Nick Sposato claiming that he was putting “kids on hold” by deferring zoning approval for the building of a new UNO Charter school in his ward. Apparently the Tribune Editorial board didn’t attend the community meetings or read the petitions signed by hundreds of parents and community members in his ward who don’t want an UNO charter school in their neighborhood.

It seems odd that the Tribune would condemn Sposato for listening to his constituents, claiming that “he won't deserve a political future if he doesn't start thinking about the future of the children in his community.”

Perhaps the editorial board didn’t communicate with some of their own reporters whom on December 4^th reported on the release of new charter data. Joel Hood wrote, “The state last week released detailed performance data for city charter schools for the first time, revealing that many schools from even the most prominent charter networks struggle to close the achievement gap for low-income students.”

Yes, in fact 3 out of 8 of UNO’s campuses are performing below CPS’ average according to this recently released report. Yet the editorial board claims that UNO is “one of the best charter school operators in the city.”  You can see a chart at the end of this Sun-Times report of the uneven results that charters are producing in this city: http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/9145306-418/story.html

Of course despite the data indicating the very mixed results for charters, UNO had three new schools approved at last week’s school board meeting, and nine other charter schools from different operators were also approved that day.  It does not seem that CPS is intent on holding charters to the same measures of accountability to which they are holding traditional schools.

In other overcrowded areas, we have seen Disney II’s and LaSalle II’s pop up. Why does the Tribune editorial board think that this neighborhood needs UNO to deal with overcrowding and not a better-performing traditional school model that exists?

It apparently doesn’t matter to the Tribune editorial board that charters aren’t the silver bullet that some politicians would want you to believe.  I am curious how many board members are clamoring for an UNO school in their own neighborhoods. And it doesn’t matter that the community in this northwest-side neighborhood pleaded with their alderman to stall this vote.  The most humorous line of their recent editorial relates to a city council vote that will take place this week to override the decision of Alderman Sposato.  The Tribune says, “the Zoning Committee could approve the project anyway. But it will probably defer to the local alderman because that's just the way things are done in Chicago, even when the local alderman is being boneheaded.”  

No, actually that is not the way things are done in Chicago. Usually things don’t get this far, because it is very hard for an alderman to stand up to the city on such an issue, and we all know the ramifications that come with making such a decision for an alderman.  The Tribune lambasts Sposato because he said “he needs more information” before proceeding. Maybe the Tribune should gain more information or read their own education reports before making such ridiculous claims.

Afternote: Sadly, just after writing this the Tribune reported that Alderman Sposato caved and agreed to sign on to the UNO project.  Apparently one lone alderman is not enough to fight the powers that be in this city, including an editorial board of a major newspaper that skewered a man for attempting to represent his community. Another sad day for democracy in Chicago.