Chicago Citizens United to

Preserve Public Education

For Immediate Release: May 20, 2014 Contact: Valerie F. Leonard, 773-571-3886
valeriefleonard@msn.com

Community Groups File Complaints Against CPS
with Federal and Local Inspectors General


Chicago Citizens United to Preserve Public Education recently filed complaints to the Inspectors
General for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) and the United States Department of Education, asking them to
investigate the relationships among CPS board members and the Academy of Urban School Leadership
(AUSL). Of immediate concern is the vote at the April meeting of the Chicago Board of Education to turn
3 schools over to AUSL for turnaround. Dr. Carlos Azcoitia voted to turn the schools over to AUSL for a
turnaround, but recused himself from voting on the underlying contracts. Dr. Azcoitia currently serves as
Distinguished Professor of Practice in Educational Leadership at National Louis University. According to
the University's website, "National Louis is AUSL's exclusive teacher preparation partner. Through the
'urban teacher residency' approach, the National Louis University and AUSL program structure teacher
preparation more like the clinical model used to train doctors. For a full year, the teaching residents spend
four days a week in an AUSL classroom in training with a mentor teacher, while also taking graduate
courses at National Louis."
"It would seem to us, that if Dr. Azcoitia recused himself from voting on management contracts
with AUSL to turn the schools around because of an apparent conflict of interest, then he should also have
recused himself from voting on the matter of turning the schools around", said Valerie F. Leonard,
spokesperson for the group.
It is not clear what the implications of the vote would have been if Dr. Azcoitia recused himself
from voting on the turnarounds. There were only 5 members of the Chicago Board of Education present
during the board meeting on April 23, 2014. A minimum of 4 votes are required in order to approve board
actions. The Board members present for the meeting voted 4-1 to turn around Dvorak Math Science
Technology Academy, and McNair, and 5-0 to turn around Gresham.
Carolina Gaete, another member of the group, expressed concern regarding AUSL's exclusive
contract with CPS to facilitate school turnarounds and lack of minority vendors. "There are no other
contractors that do this work for CPS, when there are several vendors approved by the State to implement
school improvement grants", Ms. Gaete said. There are no minority or women-owned vendors of record
doing turnarounds for CPS. Nor is there any process for the management contracts to be awarded by
competitive bid.
Tim Cawley, the Chief Administrative Officer for CPS and David Vitale, the President of the
Board of Education, are formerly affiliated with AUSL. "Why is it that Clara Barton, the only school that
was rescued from AUSL's grip last year, has not received the necessary funding to implement school
improvement, while all the AUSL schools that were turned around received their funds on a timely basis?
We hope the Inspectors General can ferret this out," Ms. Gaete said.
A third area of concern raised by Chicago Citizens United to Preserve Public Education is the level
of political contributions AUSL board members have made to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. A review of the
Illinois Board of Elections' databases indicate that AUSL board members and their spouses have
contributed nearly $64,000 to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's campaign between July, 2010 and March, 2014. " A
few years ago, CPS would turn over one-- maybe two or three-- schools a year to AUSL for turnarounds,
said Dwayne Truss, another member of the group. "Under Mayor Emanuel, CPS has voted to turn over
anywhere from three to seven schools a year to AUSL for turnaround. We look at how AUSL's business
with CPS has increased over the Mayor's term in office", said Truss. "Is this mere coincidence, or 'pay to
play?' We don't know, but we'd like the Inspectors General to look into this."
Chicago Citizens United to Preserve Public Education questions whether AUSL is the best
alternative for school improvement for Chicago students, given the fact that a number of their schools
continue to under-perform district averages, even after several years of intervention.
The Dvorak LSC presented an alternative approach to school improvement utilizing the school
transformation model. This evidence-based model has been approved by the US Department of Education,
and has been shown to be more cost effective than the AUSL model. Even so, the Board of Education
voted to turn the school over to AUSL for a turnaround. "Why is it the Board is willing to pour tons of
money into AUSL when they produce mediocre results at best?", Leonard asked. "Why can't they try
alternative models-- that have been proven to have some success-- that may be implemented at a lower
cost? Hopefully, the Inspectors General will be able to get to the bottom of this during their investigation."
Chicago Citizens United to Preserve Education is a coalition of grassroots community based
organizations and individuals, including Blocks Together, Educational Village Keepers Parent Teacher
Student Association; Valerie F. Leonard, Co-Founder, the Lawndale Alliance; Dr. Pauline Lipman,
Teachers for Social Justice; Dr. Grady Jordan, Retired Chicago Public Schools Administrator;
Yvette Moyo, Co-Founder, Real Men Charities, Inc. and Real Men Cook; Dr. Carmen Palmer, President,
Educational Village Keepers Parent Teacher Student Association; Dwayne Truss, PACE;
Julie Woestehoff, Executive Director, Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE).