A proposed K-8 STEM charter school in School District U46 received conditional approval Monday night, clearing the way for it becoming Elgin’s first charter school.
While school board members voted 6-1 in favor of the Elgin Math and Science Academy, it was not without hesitation and not without continuing concerns over the proposal, with a potential rejection still a possibility in a couple months.
“A lot of the concerns I had last time that made me choose to vote no were still in this proposal,” said board president Donna Smith, the lone no vote Monday and one of the no votes when EMSA failed to get board approval in 2014. This time around, fellow colleagues Veronica Noland, Jeanette Ward, Phil Costello, Sue Kerr, Traci O’Neal Ellis, and Cody Holt voted in favor of it.
The 6-1 vote was a complete reversal of a 1-6 defeat when the EMSA proposal came up in 2014. Despite the overwhelming margin of victory, the outcome felt less decisive as some board members gave lukewarm yeses.
The conditional approval does not guarantee EMSA is in the clear, as both the Elgin Charter School Initiative and District U46 must reach an agreement on a contract by June 30. The contract must address several areas, such as the school’s building and location, finances, funding sources for EMSA, curriculum, how to instruct and assist at-risk and special education students.
As stated during Monday’s school board meeting, some board members continue struggling with the charter. Board member Sue Kerr said when asked how she could justify spending $2 million or more on a new school, she said she saw herself as an “optimist” and believed they could craft an agreement in good faith.
Board member Traci O’Neal Ellis voted yes on Monday night, but not before listing her issues with EMSA’s proposal. She said the school would have difficulty meeting at-risk student quotas using a lottery, the group’s insistence of the vacant Fox Country Day School, the financial model, and interest among low-income and at-risk families.
“I am willing to grant my conditional approval…to the proposal subject to my review of the final contract,” said O’Neal Ellis. “I should add that I will not hesitate to vote no in June.”
Nonetheless, EMSA supporters lauded the more welcoming reception from both district administration and board members.
“We the parents deserve options because sometimes we cannot afford to send our kids to a Montessori school or a fancy private academy,” Corina Garcia, parent of two U46 students, said to the board. “Having a charter school in the community would be a dream come true.”
“I think in creating this fine institution we can take advantage and take all credit in making sure that some of these (at-risk) children have some of these advantages,” said Baldemar Lopez, a Chicago area attorney who attended U46 schools as a child and the newest board member with the charter school initiative. He said he was one of the “at-risk” children EMSA could have assisted had it existed years ago.
On Tuesday, board member Jeanette Ward posted on her Facebook page her response from the night before, calling the vote a step in the right direction, an opportunity for school innovation and helping at-risk students. She also thanked fellow colleague Veronica Noland, who voted yes on it, similar to in 2014.
“I enjoyed collaborating with a U46 board member with whom I am not normally philosophically aligned to lead the effort to approve the Elgin Math and Science Academy Charter School Proposal last night,” Ward wrote. “Veronica Noland made the motion for approval, and I seconded it.”
While the 6-1 vote indicates a comfortable margin of error for the contract agreement, the hesitation among some board members indicates approval is no guarantee in June. Furthermore, a changing of the guard will occur next month on the U46 school board, as one of the yes votes, Cody Holt, will be replaced by Melissa Owens, of Bartlett.
The school would open as a K-2 school in 2018 on the site of the former Fox Country Day School just off of I-90 and Route 25. While most of the state’s charter schools are in Chicago, some can be found in the surrounding area, such as in Pingree Grove and Rockford.
