Legal Prep Charter School Chicago
The shorter renewal period “is our only tool we have as an operator because of the way charter schools are managed in the state of Illinois and for Chicago,” said Elizabeth Todd-Breland, a member of the board of trustees. “It`s also about saying, no, you`re not going to kick a kindergarten kid to the city of Chicago.” The school, which is about 99 percent black, issued 190 extracurricular suspensions in the 2019-2020 school year. Community organizers and students say harsh disciplinary tactics make students less engaged in school and feel unwanted. Charter schools must notify CPS if a student is expelled; District officials then review the student`s case and decide whether or not the student can enroll in a district school or alternative program. At Legal Prep, Finkelstein, Williams and other directors have restructured the disciplinary code. Instead of setting suspension or expulsion as punishment for specific crimes, such as fights, disciplined students should engage in a mediation process with a member of the school`s counseling team to determine the root cause of the problem. Williams also served on Legal Prep`s hiring committee over the summer, saying the committee spent a lot of time in interviews to make sure new teachers would be well suited to the school`s changing culture. Most of the returning teachers have helped shape the new restorative justice system. Yet Finkelstein was among the charter leaders and parents who testified before the board for extended terms, citing Legal Prep`s review of discipline as the reason for the standard`s renewal.
Other parishioners also spoke in favor of its renewal at the meeting. After a year, Ayers transferred to a private school in East Garfield Park in search of new academic challenges. This summer, he articled at three different law firms in Chicago and completed LSAT in August. “Travel is not good for children,” said Dr. Terri Sabol, a professor of child development in Northwestern University`s School of Education and Social Policy. “They feel disconnected from school because they think they don`t belong. And it can have a long-term impact on their development and connection to school. Charter schools are not required to follow all policies set by Chicago Public Schools because they are independently managed. Nevertheless, discipline in Chicago`s charter schools has also declined over the past five years. In 2015, the average number of extracurricular suspensions issued by Chicago charter schools per 1,000 students was 274, up from 130 in 2020.
Over the past decade, Chicago has been one of many public school districts that have delved deep into disciplinary practices, but the city`s more than 100 charters have been largely left to fend for themselves. In addition, the school is struggling with administrative and financial turnover, as evidenced by the request for an extension of the school. In 2018, the school completed renovations to its property requested by the school district. These renovations have emptied the school`s coffers and prevented it from taking on other expenses in recent years. Experts agree that excessive discipline hurts students` self-esteem. In addition to what they would learn in class, multiple suspensions and expulsions can make students feel unwanted and unwanted at school. When teachers at Legal Prep Charter Academy returned to school in August, they discovered a new central air system, freshly painted red hallways and something else surprising – a professional development seminar called “Restorative Justice 101.” Overall, the data shows fewer students being expelled or suspended from the city`s schools. This decline is the result of a 2006 ban on “zero tolerance” policies requiring staff to suspend or expel students for certain crimes. The three public high schools with the highest percentage of white students — Taft High School, Lane Technical High School and Walter Payton College Prep — issued an average of four extracurricular suspensions per 1,000 students during the 2019-2020 school year. Discipline, both in Chicago public schools and charter schools, has disproportionately affected students of color. The course, which trained them in a new approach to discipline, was part of a monumental shift in exclusionary discipline — spurred by new protests against racism, a sense that the old system wasn`t working, and a closer examination of chart discipline data by Chicago Public Schools. As part of this framework, the Office of Student Protection says it provides guidance to public schools — including charters — to reduce bias and less punitive disciplinary practices, though it has not released further details.
The district said it is preparing to launch further initiatives related to this framework later this year. Legal Prep had other problems. The Charter has been cited as a defendant in two federal lawsuits filed on behalf of former students, alleging that a former Legal Prep employee repeatedly sexually assaulted two minors on campus from 2017 to 2018. These cases, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in 2019, are ongoing. Finkelstein did not comment on the lawsuit. CPA asked Legal Prep to provide more information about its disciplinary practices with its renewal application, according to documents obtained through a request for public records. The district highlighted the high rate of school suspensions and expulsions, as well as the length of suspensions for students. “It`s not, `You can do whatever you want and you can be back in class.` It`s just bad practice,” Hannan said. “A good repair process requires hard work, involves conversations, and involves the support of your colleagues.
But that`s because if you have a true restorative justice practice in your school, you build that support network. But this fall, teachers were trained in restorative practices — responses to rule violations that emphasize compassion and reducing recidivism — an effort that, 22 weeks into this school year, seems to be making a difference. Students who are expelled from traditional public schools generally cannot attend another CPS school for at least one year. Instead, they are automatically enrolled in an alternative program, according to a statement from Chicago Public Schools. In addition to legal preparation, the Rev. Marshall Hatch, Jr. paid close attention to changes at the school. Analysis of the data also shows that, despite pressure for more restorative practices, change has been slow for both district schools and regulations. Over the summer, Legal Prep also hired several new employees, and Finkelstein said they were specifically looking for candidates interested in restorative justice. Indeed, the transition to restorative justice requires a massive cultural shift for which not everyone is prepared. At Legal Prep, which was founded in 2012 and claims to be Chicago`s only law school, the campus` original philosophy was “high expectations, harsh consequences.” In response to such concerns, Legal Prep employees implemented what they call the “breathing system,” Finkelstein said.
When a student behaves in class, the teacher calls a member of the school`s counseling or discipline team to take them out for a few minutes. Even in the 2019-2020 school year, when face-to-face learning was abruptly interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, district regulations issued an average of 130 suspensions per 1,000 students. (Students may be suspended multiple times). That rate is nearly five times higher than that of Chicago`s unchartered schools, according to a new analysis of disciplinary data obtained online from the Illinois State Board of Education and Chicago Public Schools. This type of disorder can deter many students from returning to school, although state law requires students to stay in school until age 17, according to Michael Hannan, administrator of the Alternative Schools Network, a nonprofit organization that works with students who have dropped out of school. Since last year, CPS has given local school boards the option to retain or dispose of school resource officers, Chicago police officers stationed in schools.