The Chicago High School for the Arts will not seek renewal of its contract with Chicago Public Schools, school leaders announced to students and families in a letter Thursday. Citing financial struggles, the future of the independently operated school overseen by the district remains unclear.
Known widely as ChiArts in Humboldt Park, the contracted school opened in September 2009 and is the city’s only public high school specializing in visual and performing arts, offering a conservatory model of academics and a college-preparatory curriculum. The conservatory structure requires students to audition and train in different artistic disciplines, including creative writing, dance, music, theater and visual arts.
ChiArt’s board of directors informed CPS earlier this week that it would not submit a renewal application to continue managing the school after the end of the academic year in June, citing financial issues.
The school, which has an enrollment of about 550 students in grades 9-12, will remain open through the end of the year, however, it is unclear what will happen after that, according to a CPS letter to students and families. Any long-term future decisions to be made will require more review, conversations and collaboration, including between the district and the ChiArts board of directors, school leadership, staff, students and families, CPS said in a statement to the Tribune.
“ChiArts students will continue to experience the same high-quality academic and artistic training that their school is known for. CPS and the ChiArts Board are committed to ensuring that students currently enrolled at ChiArts will be supported in completing their high school education without disruption,” the statement said.
Those students silently protested the renewal decision Friday morning, hosting a sit-in during what is normally their academic class periods. According to posts on social media, the students occupied space on the floor, some speaking in support of ChiArts and demanding answers from school leadership.
“We’re standing together right now. We know we want to save the school,” an Instagram post shows a student saying into a microphone to cheers as other students sit at the edge of the hallway.
Students were notified of the decision Thursday while in school, which ChiArts musical theater major Sammy Gonzalez, 16, called disrespectful. Gonzalez, a junior, addressed administrators during the sit-in Friday morning, calling for clarity on what went into the board’s decision, including how they delivered the news to students. Teachers also seemed surprised by the news when it was announced Thursday, Gonzalez said.
“I don’t understand how they didn’t expect chaos to break out when you give us news at 3 p.m. during the day,” Gonzalez said. “This is not the first time. There’s been a lot of cases like this, where it’s emails in the middle of classes and then it’s even more horrible to hear that my teachers are getting it at the same exact time.”
ChiArts’ school leadership hosted a virtual meeting Thursday night that still left Gonzalez with questions. Students had no prior knowledge that the school was struggling financially, according to Gonzalez. Had students been aware, they would have organized a fundraiser, she said, adding there were also no clear answers on what led to ChiArts’ financial woes or how academics will be impacted. “A lot of times when we asked them these questions and we asked for clear communication, they danced around the questions,” Gonzalez said of Thursday’s meeting with school leadership. “It was a lot of, ‘we appreciate the passion here,’ but it was never answering our question of, realistically, does my junior class have to start looking into transferring to other schools?”
Several other students reiterated Gonzalez’s worries, including 15-year-old vocal major Luciana Domenica Pacilli, who said that despite Thursday’s virtual meeting, there remains a lack of clarity, which is upsetting for students, families and faculty. “It’s really disappointing that this is what the school has come to, where they haven’t let us know that our school might literally shut down,” said Domenica Pacilli, who is a sophomore.
ChiArts students are settled, have solid friendships and enjoy a welcoming community at school, which is now at risk and cannot be replicated, she said. “It’s really lovely to see people just being genuinely happy around their friends,” Domenica Pacilli said. “It would suck if we had to let go of that because of someone’s bad decisions.”
Academic, financial future unclear for several CPS contract schools
The district has been working with ChiArts as it considers its short-term and long-term future, according to CPS. Multiple community meetings for families and students are planned for this month to discuss the issue.
“Our shared priority is to ensure that students’ learning experiences remain consistent, their artistic and academic opportunities continue to grow, and families stay informed as decisions are made,” the district said.
The news comes as charter school EPIC Academy’s board of directors agreed to close the South Shore school in September, citing financial troubles driven by low enrollment, despite having renewed its contract with CPS in May. Schools with CPS contracts, including charter schools, are overseen by the district and follow its policies, but are privately-managed and operate through independent boards.
CPS said the Chicago Board of Education renewed EPIC’s contract because the school had met financial standards. The district is responsible for reviewing and issuing contract renewals based on various academic and financial performance standards.
EPIC officials said they are unable to keep up with rising operational costs amid declining enrollment. CPS provides the school with some enrollment-dependent funding, but the school is still falling short financially, EPIC leaders told the Tribune last month.
At ChiArts, CPS covers the cost of academics based on student enrollment, while the ChiArts Foundation manages the costs of the five arts conservatories with privately raised funds. ChiArts was also renewed for two years in January 2024 despite receiving “Does Not Meet Standards” rating in the district’s financial and operational performance domains.
However, the school will remain fully operational and funded through June, ChiArts Executive Director Tina Boyer Brown and Principal Néstor Corona reassured families in a letter Thursday afternoon.
“You will be happy to know that the ChiArts board, leadership, and CPS are already working closely together to create a sustainable plan that protects what makes ChiArts so special — its tuition-free, pre-professional arts training and rigorous academics,” the letter said.
The school’s philanthropic partner, the ChiArts Foundation, said in a Friday statement that its focus is on the students and maintaining access to “tuition-free, pre-professional arts training,” including the conservatory academic setting.
“As ChiArts and CPS continue conversations about the school’s future, the foundation’s commitment remains steady: to champion and support the pre-professional conservatory model that makes ChiArts extraordinary,” according to the statement.
ChiArts’ board’s decision not to apply for renewal was criticized by the Chicago Teachers Union, which also condemned the planned closure of EPIC Academy and the charter school system as a whole. Calling for more oversight on charter and contracted schools, school closures and the privatization of education create cycles of uncertainty that ChiArts families and students are now experiencing, CTU said in a statement.
“This kind of instability sends a painful message to every member of our school community and especially to our young people: that they are not valued, their schools are temporary, and their futures are uncertain,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said. “Chicago’s young people deserve permanent commitments, not failed business plans and fickle investors.”
Going forward, the district wrote it will assess the sustainability of the school’s conservatory model when considering long-term plans. There are 73 total fine arts schools within the district that serve 40,000 students, CPS said in a statement.
“Chicago Public Schools is committed to ensuring that every student has access to a high-quality, rigorous arts education that not only nurtures individual talent but also enriches our communities,” it said.
Still, for some of the over 500 students at ChiArts who are uncertain of their academic future, those sentiments are not enough to be reassuring. Even if CPS takes over the school, Gonzalez worries that the culture and programming will not be maintained in the same way they are now. There’s no point in going to the school if the programs don’t exist, which has not yet been guaranteed, she said.
“This is such a different school, and I came here for that,” Gonzalez said. “To just change it and take it all away, you’re not understanding what the point of ChiArts is.”
