In a unanimous board decision, ASPIRA, a charter school network in Chicago, is set to close Haugan Middle School following an acute drop in enrollment and significant financial shortfalls. The board voted 6-0 on Wednesday to cease operations of the school by the end of June, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. With just 89 students currently enrolled, the institution is grappling with what ASPIRA CEO Edgar Lopez coined as a "million-dollar deficit," criticizing both the school district's funding model and a new union contract for heightening operational costs.
Facing financial strain, surrounded by controversy, the decision arrives amid a climate where charter schools in Chicago find themselves wrestling with population declines and insufficient funding, similar to traditional public schools. ASPIRA Haugan Middle School, which opened its doors in 2006 and once boasted an enrollment of 592 students, has been seeing its numbers tumble annually since 2017. Citing these enrollment declines, Edgar Lopez argued that "the environment in Chicago is not supporting charter schools" and mentioned efforts to recruit more students have been hampered by Chicago Public Schools (CPS), as noted by the Sun-Times.
Rotated by raw emotion, ASPIRA's board president Edgar Lopez described the closure as a difficult yet necessary step. "Unless something changes in Chicago and CPS, this isn't gonna be the last charter school to close," Lopez told ABC7 Chicago. The sentiments of distress were paralleled by teachers and parents of Haugan Middle School, who during a board meeting expressed that the school had become more than just an educational institution but a community where relationships flourished and students found their worth.
Mentioning the family-like bonds, parent Oyuki Hernandez told ABC7, "My kid comes from a previous school where she got bullied. It was horrible. When she want to ASPIRA, all that changed." Teacher Lori Cannella revealed, "We're a family that's being disbanded."
While ASPIRA plans on maintaining its two high school campuses, the future of Haugan Middle School's 10 teachers and 43 eighth graders, who are set to transition to high school, is now uncertain. CPS has promised to assist with placements for the remaining students and has stated that they could continue their education in the same building, which also houses North River Elementary, a CPS-managed school. Charter operators, as per CPS's policy, hold the autonomy to determine the fate of their schools, contributing to a landscape of charter education marked by closures and transitions, as confirmed by both the Chicago Sun-Times and ABC7 Chicago reports.
