Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett tells charter parents closings not their fault
BY MITCH DUDEK Staff Reporter September 19, 2013 2:18AM
Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett (center) speaks to a crowd of several hundred enthusiastic charter-school parents and students Wednesday evening at the Chicago Bulls College Prep, a charter school in the West Town neighborhood. | Mitch Dudek~Sun-Times
Updated: September 19, 2013 2:26AM
It was a West Side lovefest Wednesday night between Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and charter school parents who needed a little TLC.
For months, they said they felt like scapegoats, blamed by angry unionized teachers, activists and non-charter parents for prompting CPS to close a record number of traditional neighborhood schools.
“People are going to say what they want, especially unhappy people,” Byrd-Bennett told a crowd of several hundred enthusiastic charter supporters gathered at Chicago Bulls College Prep, a charter school in the West Town neighborhood.
If you get caught up in false arguments, “you give them more fuel. I choose not give it the fuel,” she said. “People who want to take the argument and twist it, it’s kind of like, ‘I ain’t got time.’”
Charters are public schools that receive public funds but operate with many of the freedoms of private schools.
Toni Sea-Gerald, who heads up Charter Parents United, an umbrella group that represents charter school networks, including UNO and Noble — two of the city’s largest — stood next to Byrd-Bennett on an auditorium stage and echoed her words. “When you hear the blame game, know that you heard from Ms. Byrd-Bennett that it is not your fault.”
Sea-Gerald, whose daughter attends a charter school, said charter school parents can feel left out of the mix.
“Unfortunately, we sometimes feel like the bastard children, that we’re not well known, that we’re under represented,” Sea-Gerald said before taking the stage with Byrd-Bennett along with a panel of charter school parents.
Byrd-Bennett cited several times that CPS is accepting proposals from charter school operators who want to open new schools where the need is greatest, and agreed to the formation of an advisory board of charter school parents.
“Ten years ago, if people asked me, ‘Are you a charter school advocate? My answer was a resounding ‘no,’” said Byrd-Bennett.
Her views have evolved, she explained.
“I support any kind of school, including charter schools, that is quality.”
