CPS designates 16 new ‘sustainable community schools’

Chicago Public Schools will nearly double the number of schools that receive extra funding for family support and resources, officials announced Monday in what they called an effort to boost community involvement and educational equity across the city.

With the addition of 16 schools to the "sustainable community schools" model, the district's total will increase to 36, mostly on the South and West sides.

There are questions about whether the district can afford to fund these additional programs while it faces a more than half-billion dollar deficit that has already led to layoffs and other cuts. But Mayor Brandon Johnson is a major proponent of sustainable community schools, and CPS agreed to fund more of them in its new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union last spring.

Leaders said the success they've seen in previous sustainable community schools is worth the cost. The model turns schools into community hubs with wraparound support beyond academics, such as new after-school programs, adult learning for parents or health resources for the community. The schools emphasize input from parents, students and community members and a view that kids need more than classroom instruction to succeed.

“Being a student ambassador at my school has given me plenty of opportunities to voice what I think my school should look like,” said Ariana Anderson, a rising eighth grader at sustainable community school Fort Dearborn Elementary in Washington Heights. “I have learned not only what student voice is, but also how it looks in and outside of a school.”

Existing sustainable community schools have seen an increase in mental health resources, a drop in chronic absenteeism and improved academic performance and general school culture, according to CTU. Union leaders joined the mayor and interim CPS CEO/Supt. Macquline King at a news conference Monday.

Johnson said the model is also meant to address the root causes of violence by adding after-school programs and other resources.

“We are making the immediate interventions to bring down crime and violence," the mayor said. "And as our communities have asked us to do, certainly we also need to make the long-term [target] the root causes of violence. And that’s what we’re doing today. Investing in public education is violence prevention.”

While the estimated cost of the program wasn’t immediately available, it is expensive. The current budget deficit is $569 million, and the district is running out of time to present its options to close that gap. Johnson said the state has a responsibility to provide more funding.

“Those concerns are real,” Johnson said. “This is not something that should be seen as a burden. … As a collective we’re working to ensure that this year’s budget allows for these investments to be maintained, and we’re gonna need those same parents who are concerned, like all of us, to work with the General Assembly to ensure that we are fully funded as a district.”

CTU president Stacy Davis Gates credited the move Monday to her union's contract.

“We have it because [the] community struggled for it, and the union said we’re gonna struggle with you, and we’re gonna codify those aspirations, those dreams and those commands in a collective bargaining agreement,” she said.

The 16 schools added to the model were selected out of 245 that were eligible because their students face greater hardship, such as higher rates of poverty or homelessness, officials said.

“The point and the purpose is to build a village,” said CTU official Monique Redeaux-Smith. “We want to ensure that every single child in Chicago has a high-quality opportunity to attend a high-quality school within walking distance of their home.”

Newly added sustainable community schools:

• Ira Aldridge Elementary School
• Austin College and Career Academy High School
• Belmont-Cragin Elementary School
• James H. Bowen High School
• Cesar E. Chavez Multi-Cultural Academic Center
• George W. Collins Academy STEAM High School
• James R. Doolittle Elementary School
• Englewood STEM High School
• Stephen F. Gale Community Academy
• Harold Washington Elementary School
• Gurdon S. Hubbard High School
• Stephen T. Mather High School
• McCutcheon STEAM Elementary School
• Richard J. Oglesby Elementary School
• Telpochcalli Dual-Language Elementary School
• George Washington High School