Chicago Math and Science Academy

Chicago Math and Science Academy (CMSA) is a public charter middle school and high school (grades 6th-12th) located in Chicago, Illinois in the Rogers Park neighborhood. CMSA is ranked by the Chicago Public Schools Board as a Level 1+ school, according to their School Quality Report The majority of students (94%) come from low-income families.^[1] Chicago Math and Science Academy was opened in 2004. CMSA is managed by Concept Schools.

Admission

Chicago Math and Science Academy does not have a selective enrollment process. Parents can apply to the school for all grades via an online form.^[2] If any open seats are available, the student is automatically accepted. If no seats are available, the student is placed in a public lottery to randomly select students to fill the remaining seats. Finally, the rest of the students are placed on a waiting list.

Campus

Old building

The original Chicago Math and Science Academy building was located on 1705 West Lunt Avenue. The two buildings were the original site for St. Jerome Parish School, and were being leased by CMSA.^[3] It shared its campus with St. Jerome Catholic Church, although no religious affiliation was established between the two separate organizations. On days when school was not in session, the building was used as a Sunday school for the church parishioners. These two buildings are approximately 42,000 square feet in size.

New building

In May 2009, Chicago Math and Science Academy purchased the vacant Clark Mega Mall property for $5.5 million and moved to its current location at 7212 North Clark Street. The new building boasted a higher square acreage of 54,000, up 14,000 from the old buildings.^[4] The new building originally did not have a gym, but one was constructed and officially opened in November 2013.^[5] The school currently does not have a dedicated auditorium. The school does have a 10,000 square foot gym.

Union

Teachers at the school attempted to form a union under Illinois law, which was approved by the National Labor Relations Board in 2010. The school has since appealed that decision and the National Labor Relations Board decided in favor of the school as a result of the appeal. As a result, the Union decided not to represent the CMSA teachers.^[6]

Facilities

Academics

Advanced Placement (AP) courses are available in English, history, science, and math.

Clubs

Chicago Math and Science Academy offers a variety of extracurricular clubs:^[7]

Athletics

CMSA offers basketball, soccer, track and volleyball.

Controversy

Union Busting

In August 2010, Chicago Math & Science Academy fired a pregnant teacher for union organizing. Rhonda Hartwell was eight months pregnant at the time of firing, in addition to having to move up her delivery date for insurance purposes. The school said that the reason behind Hartwell's termination was because of budget cuts, although at the time the school was hiring new teachers and offered all current teachers a 5% increase pay raise. The school also gave Hartwell a $1,500 performance bonus and contract renewal before the union organization efforts began. Additionally, the school hired an expensive anti-union law firm, Seyfarth Shaw, to fight the teachers' organizing efforts. In response to her firing, Hartwell said the following: "They are using me as a scapegoat to send a chilling message to the rest of the teachers. We formed a union to give teachers a voice in making the school better and to create an environment where teachers would feel secure enough to share ideas and concerns. I am still hopeful that school officials will eventually do the right thing."^[8] In April 2011, Chicago Math & Science Academy agreed to a $40,000 back-pay settlement to Hartwell. Since the union began to organize, the school has spent over $113,000 of taxpayer money on legal fees fighting the union.^[9]

On August 5, 2010, in efforts to reform the school, members of the Chicago Math & Science Academy community (including but not limited to teachers, students, parents of students, alumni, and labor leaders) came together and marched to the school's offices to speak with former principal Ali Yilmaz. After selectively refusing to answer some difficult questions from the group and dodging other questions, Yilmaz allegedly instructed a staff member to illegally activate the fire alarm system to evacuate everyone from the building, thus ending the meeting.^[10]

In February 2011, a Chicago charter school union affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers alleged that Chicago Math & Science Academy and Concept Schools had abused the Visa policy of the United States by "routinely assigning these teachers duties or class load that seemingly do not take into account the laws governing H-1B visa holders." The school reportedly paid higher salaries to those immigrant teachers than the American teachers. United States Department of Labor spokesman responded by saying an investigation was ongoing.^[11]

On February 11, 2011, demonstrators held a protest against Chicago Math and Science Academy due to its union busting efforts. Despite winning a 67% vote by teachers to start the union, the board appealed their decision to unionize. The picketing was held outside the law office building of Sulejman F. Dizdarevic, a member of the board of directors of the school. Demonstrators included Episcopal Church Deacon Tim Yeager and Northwestern University professor Martha Biondi.^[12][13]

FBI Raids

On June 4, 2014, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation visited Chicago Math and Science Academy with a search warrant. The FBI also raided Concept Schools' Chicago regional office in Des Plaines, IL. A special agent leading the probe said that the raids were due to an investigation of “ongoing white-collar crime matter” but would give no details.^[14]

References

External links

• Chicago Math and Science Academy
• Concept Schools website
• Facebook

Coordinates: 42°0′47″N 87°40′30″W / 42.01306°N 87.67500°W / 42.01306; -87.67500