HUMBOLDT PARK — The Chicago High School for the Arts is grappling with a disorganized start to the school year, with unfinished schedules, shifting student rosters, and teacher vacancies that could have been avoided, parents and educators said.
The Chicago High School for the Arts is a contract school on the border of Humboldt Park and West Town at 2714 W. Augusta Blvd. It’s the only arts-focused public high school in the city and offers academic and arts classes to nearly 600 students.
Megan Pietz, an English teacher and union chair of the CTU Union for Scholar Artists, said the unfinished schedules mean teachers have overflowing classrooms and can’t properly do lessons. Students can’t enroll in the classes they need to graduate, while others are enrolled in the wrong classes for their grade level, Pietz said.
During the first week of classes, students spent time in the auditorium with no assigned class, taking a class they passed last year or were double booked, teachers said.
Schedules were still not final as of Thursday, disproportionately affecting diverse learning students and multilingual learners, Pietz said. Some parents are looking for academic alternatives outside the school for their kids because of the scheduling snafus.
“It’s been doubly more chaotic for students and staff, because last summer, we had a team of teachers that were paid to ensure our schedule was done and ready for the first day of school,” Pietz said. “In talking to my other educator friends and people across the city, [this year] this is a pretty unprecedented situation.”
After negotiating with school leaders since the summer for a seat at the scheduling table, an agreement was made Wednesday for a team of teachers and counselors to help the executive director in redoing the master schedule to meet diverse learners and multilingual learner requirements and to address major issues around graduation requirements and credit recovery, Pietz said.
Executive Director Tina Boyer Brown, the head of school administration, said she accepts responsibility for the problems. Schedules likely will not be final for a few more weeks, she said.
“As the executive director, I am responsible for upholding the standards that we set, and I needed to do greater oversight than I did,” Boyer Brown said. “Teachers want to teach. They’re very devoted to our students. They want everything to go just right; so do I, and it did not.”
The issues began over the summer, when the administration laid off four teachers because of the school’s budget issues, Pietz said. School board members told teachers they had to reduce positions due to budget limitations, according to letters reviewed by Block Club.
The ChiArts Foundation, a private, separate philanthropic nonprofit that funds the school’s arts program, allocated $2.5 million for the arts program this year, a $600,000 drop from last year due to budget shortfalls and fewer donors, according to the foundation’s letters sent to the school community shared with Block Club.
The school also did not receive charter funding and ran out of CPS’ pandemic relief funding for this year, Boyer Brown said.
“I have been advocating for increased funding, both from CPS and for increased donor support, wherever that comes from, because ChiArts is special, not just in Chicago, but also nationally,” she said. “This has been a rough start to the school year, but it is worth figuring out.”
Eliminating the positions meant there would not be enough teachers for classes in August, Pietz said. Union members repeatedly asked the school board to recall the teachers and offered to help create a master schedule, two things school officials refused until two days before school was to start, Pietz said.
Teachers with experience in scheduling jumped into action and created a schedule with the least amount of disruptions for the students, Spanish teacher Lupe León said. But after León and others put in several hours of work at the beginning of the month, the administration decided to use its own system, creating mass confusion, she said.
The administration’s schedule created chaos for León’s students, who went to her hoping she could fix their schedules last week, she said. She’s still missing students, as opposed to some of her coworkers who have too many students or repeat students.
“Students want structure and want answers, and when [administration] can’t guarantee that, the schedule changes feel like an impossible task,” León said. “How invested are they going to be if it isn’t even guaranteed that they’re going to be in those classes again?”
Teachers who spoke to Block Club estimate there are still about 300 class scheduling errors and schedules are changing daily, further disrupting student learning, they said.
Agatha Demarchi, a parent to a ChiArts senior, said the school’s scheduling delay has drained her daughter’s motivation. Demarchi’s daughter expected to have AP courses, but she now needs to figure out what to do with her time since they aren’t on her schedule, she said.
“My daughter was expecting so badly this year to have her schedule, and waiting to receive an email back and forth is another cause of anxiety,” Demarchi said. “When you’re sending your children to school, you think it’s going to be a safe place, not disorganized, not her sitting around doing nothing.”
At a recent meeting with school officials, parents were told the teacher layoffs stemming from budget changes are to blame for the problems, Demarchi said. She understands unexpected circumstances can come up, but she still wishes school leaders had pushed back the start of the school year until schedules were finalized.
ChiArts since has hired back three out of the four teachers laid off over the summer, Boyer Brown said. Officials are actively hiring and interviewing for the remaining vacant positions, she said.
The school has six full-time vacancies and two part-time vacancies, Pietz said.
Teacher vacancies and budget limitations contributed to the scheduling problems, but an after-action report is in the works to determine specifically what went wrong and to work on administrative challenges moving forward, Boyer Brown said.
Pietz and other teachers are grateful for progress made over the last week but still want Chicago Public Schools to get involved in holding the “disorganized charter operators accountable.”
CPS officials said the district is aware of the scheduling delays because of “final approval of teacher schedules” by the ChiArts scheduling committee. Evan Moore, a CPS spokesperson, referred questions about the school’s staffing and layoffs to ChiArts leaders.
“The District continues to provide training, scheduling, and technical support to ChiArts Leadership to ensure they have the support needed to serve their students,” Moore said in a statement.
Boyer Brown, who has been in the position for two years, said she plans to increase communication and transparency with teachers and union officials as both sides continue negotiations.
Some teachers are already feeling fed up with the administration, especially given the school’s past troubles. They want increased communication, accountability, and partnership to work through the problems together.
“The frustration comes from the power trip of the new administration coming in strong saying it’s my way or the highway in not valuing what you have to bring to the school,” León said. “If you are not going to be an executive director who does their job efficiently, we are going to be asking that maybe this is not the job for you.”
Conclusion:
The Chicago High School for the Arts’ disorganized start to the school year has caused frustration and anxiety among students, parents, and teachers. The school’s administration accepts responsibility for the problems and is working to address the issues. However, some teachers are feeling fed up with the administration and are calling for increased communication, accountability, and partnership to work through the problems together.
FAQs:
Q: What is the Chicago High School for the Arts?
A: The Chicago High School for the Arts is a contract school in Humboldt Park and West Town that offers academic and arts classes to nearly 600 students.
Q: What are the issues with the school’s scheduling?
A: The school’s scheduling has been disorganized, with unfinished schedules, shifting student rosters, and teacher vacancies. This has caused frustration and anxiety among students, parents, and teachers.
Q: Why did the school’s administration lay off four teachers over the summer?
A: The school’s administration laid off four teachers due to budget limitations.
Q: What is the ChiArts Foundation?
A: The ChiArts Foundation is a private, separate philanthropic nonprofit that funds the school’s arts program.
Q: Has the school hired back the teachers who were laid off?
A: ChiArts has hired back three out of the four teachers who were laid off over the summer.
Q: What is the school doing to address the scheduling issues?
A: The school is working to address the scheduling issues by redoing the master schedule to meet diverse learners and multilingual learner requirements and to address major issues around graduation requirements and credit recovery.
