Two Urban Prep Academy campuses are set to be taken over by Chicago Public Schools after the Board of Education voted Wednesday not to renew their charters, despite strong objections from the high schools.
The board took the unanimous action after assertions that Urban Prep’s leaders put their own interests ahead of students’. But officials and community members from the well-known charter high schools called the move an “attack” against its independence, which they say is responsible for an educational model that serves young Black men and has produced a 100% college acceptance rate among its seniors for 13 years.
Prior to the vote, staff, students and parents from Urban Prep Academies pleaded with the board to let the schools keep their charters.
Without them, the Urban Prep campuses in Bronzeville and Englewood would remain open but would come under CPS management, either as a campus program of an existing CPS high school or as an independent CPS school, according to CPS’ plans. A third campus downtown is charted through the state and is not affected by Wednesday’s action.
Before the session, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez praised Urban Prep’s all male school model, but said CPS cannot compromise on what the district has described as Urban Prep’s problems with governance and school safety. He said CPS tried to move forward with Urban Prep.
“It’s sad that we’re down to where we are today,” Martinez said.
Martinez said he hopes to continue the programming established at Urban Prep and is confident in CPS’ ability to handle it. He also acknowledged the board’s “hard decisions” ahead.
In an appeal to the board, Brandon Lenore, Urban Prep’s director of student programs, emphasized the rich programming the school’s provide, citing the high GPAs across its athletic teams and that more than 60 students currently work in paid internships.
He also emphasized that the work of Urban Prep Academies can’t be recreated under different leadership.
“It’s not a drop-ship program where someone can come in and replicate it,” Lenore said.
Current students emphasized that education at Urban Prep is more than a school but a “brotherhood” where mentors serve more like fathers. One student said before Urban Prep, “school wasn’t their thing.” Another, a sophomore, cited the program’s focus on emphasizing college options by including all students in college tours and talks, rather than just upperclassmen.
Johnny Dorsey said he has worked at Urban Prep as a teacher and mentor focusing on social and emotional learning. Dorsey said the students need to stay together and need the continued mentorship of Urban Prep’s leaders. He said he’s heard worries about the program’s future from students, with questions like, “Mr. Dorsey, are you leaving us?”
Kevin Scott, a senior at Urban Prep’s Bronzeville location, said the school has turned him from someone engaging in “immature behavior” to a school leader.
“As I senior, I see now how I am prepared to step into the world as a man,” Scott said.
Later Wednesday, CPS presented its recommendation not to renew the charter, laying out a case based on allegations that Urban Prep violated the law, violated the charter and operated under “dismal” management since at least 2020. The recommendation to revoke the charter was a response to management by the Urban Prep Academies Board of Directors and was not based on campus-level performance, Alfonso Carmona, CPS chief portfolio officer, said.
CPS’ recommendation to take over operations stems from its belief that the school should not close, Carmona said, emphasizing that the goals of CPS and Urban Prep are the same — to turn young men into leaders, prepared for a college education.
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Board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said CPS’ proposal for the schools is “unprecedented” and developed to ensure the Urban Prep community is preserved.
“No one’s talking about firing principals, getting rid of teachers,” Todd-Breland said. “We want to find a way to preserve that and the things that they found valuable there.”
CPS plans to make offers of employment to current teachers and staff who qualify, working with the Chicago Teachers Union to ensure they are licensed in accordance with CPS’ policies, said General Counsel Joe Moriarty.
Urban Prep can appeal to the Illinois State Board of Education.
CPS says it plans to reach out to community members and families, which will guide how the district chooses to manage the two schools. Under CPS, families will have the option to transfer their students to another school, which is part of why this recommendation was put before the board now, in the middle of the school year, Carmona said, while applications for next school year are still open through the district’s GoCPS system.
Todd-Breland said past contract renewals had been granted to Urban Prep to prevent instability during the pandemic: “We were trying to make a student-centered decision to get these things right.”
She added that this process moved “expeditiously” because of the seriousness of the offenses substantiated in a June report from Inspector General, which alleged that Urban Prep founder Tim King engaged in sexual misconduct. King has sought in court to undo disciplinary actions taken against him by CPS, saying they were based on a “fundamentally flawed investigation.”
