Nov 21, 2008 6:21 am US/Central
Chicago Choir Academy To Close
Dwindling Enrollment, Fiscal Crisis Blamed
CHICAGO (STNG) ―
Facing dwindling enrollment, officials of Chicago's Choir Academy Charter School announced Thursday they will close their doors at the end of the school year.
At a Thursday night meeting at the school, 3630 S. Wells St., about 40 parents and children listened as school officials talked about the fiscal crisis that triggered the closing and what needs to be done in the coming weeks to find the children a new school.
"There isn't another program out there like the choir school. I pulled my son out of the neighborhood school because it was too crowded -- 35 kids in his class. He can't focus in a classroom like that," said Melissa Moody, a teacher whose 9-year-old son travels from the family's Austin home each day.
The school opened in 2001 with the legendary Harlem Choir Academy of New York as its model and the Chicago Children's Choir as its sponsor. Music was woven into its reading, writing and math classes.
But the Children's Choir last conceded it wasn't prepared to run a school and backed out of the deal. The Choir Academy changed locations, moving from 3737 S. Paulina St. to 3630 S. Wells St.
And though Choir Academy test scores rose steadily, handily beating Chicago Public Schools averages, its enrollment never gained traction. It shrank from 244 students in 2004 to 144 this year.
CPS blamed the closure on "ongoing financial and governance problems the school has experienced over the past several months."
Part of the problem, said Kevin Slaughter, acting chairman of the Choir Academy Board, is that the school opened with grades four through eight and planned to grow to a fourth- to 12th-grade school. Officials then decided a kindergarten through 12th-grade model made more sense and started adding younger grades, he said.
This year, the school houses second- through eighth-graders, but it didn't have the money to open younger grades, Slaughter said.
The school will operate through June 30, 2009, when it will become the fourth CPS charter school to close its door since Mayor Daley took over the school system in 1995. CPS officials said they will help parents find their children spaces in other CPS schools.
(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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