Chicago Citizens United to Preserve Public Education

May 19, 2014

Kathleen Tighe

Inspector General

U.S. Department of Education

Office of Inspector General

400 Maryland Avenue, SW

Washington, DC 20202-1500

Dear Inspector General Tighe:

We are writing this letter as a follow up to our complaint dated April 30, 2014. Since that time, we have

become aware of additional information that we believe may be material to your investigation.

In our letter, under point 1. Apparent Conflicts of Interest in the Most Recent Round of School

Turnarounds, we indicated strong concern that there appears to be a swinging door between CPS,

members of the Board of Education and AUSL. After reading an archived Sun-Times article and

reviewing a video of Rahm Emanuel participating in a fireside chat during his 2011 mayoral campaign, it

is clear that this "swinging door" includes Mayor Emanuel to a greater extent than originally believed.

Moreover, these documents lead us to believe that a number of votes that were taken by the Board of

Education between 2011 and the present time were a mere formality, with outcomes that were determined

prior to the Mayor being elected.

The Sun-Times article (http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/04/rahm-emanuels-fiscal-year-2009.html)

provides a list of earmarks requested by then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel for fiscal year 2009. The list

includes

Academy for Urban School Leadership - Chicago Academy and Chicago Academy High School,

$1,075,200

Academy for Urban School Leadership - Chicago Academy and Chicago Academy High School -

Campus Enhancement Project, $300,000

The hour-long video, Candidates@Google: Rahm Emanuel, uploaded by AtGoogleTalks on 24.02.2011

provides a glimpse of former White House Chief of Staff and Chicago Mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel

speaking with the Head of the Google Chicago office Jim Lecinski on February 9, 2011 at the Google

office in Chicago, Illinois. We have provided a link to the video and transcript and a link to the YouTube

video. We have copied and pasted the text into a Word file, and copied a screen shot as of May 17, 2014

in the event these files are removed from the internet. The link to the transcript is

http://transcriptvids.com/v2/VBeJWzBRS2g.html and the link to the YouTube video is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBeJWzBRS2g

Then-Candidate Rahm Emanuel indicates to the interviewer, "...I want you to look it up, AUSL Program,

okay? Golden Apple here in Chicago. Anyway I created the first high school in the old Wright

Community College. It's a master teacher, two people in second career getting a master's in education in

the classroom, a neighborhood school.

Candidate Emanuel goes on to say, "I wanna take us from seven schools to 15. We'll graduate two high

schools and six elementary schools worth of teachers every year. After four years Chicago will have the

largest population of teachers with a master's degree in education and we will convert the school system,

classroom by classroom, school by school... Eventually I wanna take it up to 20, but the first year I'll do

15. Now here's how I'll pay for it and after everything I've announced, I've paid for. We spend $100

million a year at the CPS, Chicago Public Schools, on teacher training. For $10 million, I get these eight

schools..."

AUSL now controls every school building in and around Douglas Park, including Collins Academy,

Johnson School of Excellence and Chalmers School of Excellence. In 2011, when Candidate Emanuel

gave this interview, AUSL managed Collins Academy (the building of which also houses North

Lawndale College Prep) and Johnson School of Excellence. Other schools bordering Douglas Park

included Chalmers Specialty Elementary School (not yet acquired by AUSL) and Pope (now closed).

Candidate Emanuel also said in this interview that, "...First of all I wanna just before I get to crime can I

say somethin' about North Lawndale? There is, where I gave my education speech was at the Bethune

School in North Lawndale. It is now one of the teaching academies that I told you about. The principal

there, Ms. Hightower, is co-chair of my campaign. In one year they've raised their reading scores 20

percent. Same kids from the neighborhood, same building, different principal, different teachers, scores

are up. All graduates of this teaching academy model. (The Bethune School of Excellence is now closed,

and their scores were still below North Lawndale averages after 3 years of intervention)

"Now what I'm very impressed also one of the things I wanna get to I can't do it overnight

again, there's Bethune, there's Johnson, and there's a Collins High School not too far and they're all part

this. I wanna create those campuses where a family knows from kindergarten to high school, they got an

excellent program." Clearly, the plans for consolidation of AUSL schools around Douglas Park were set

into motion before Mayor Emanuel was elected. When the original Collins High School was closed a few

years ageo due to poor academic performance, only 8 percent of the students were meeting standards on

the PSAE. Under AUSL leadership, Collins Academy had 3% of students meeting standards on the PSAE

in 2013.

It should be reiterated that the pace for AUSL turnarounds increased significantly after Rahm Emanuel

was elected Mayor. Assuming the Mayor remained true to statements made during his campaign of

training enough teachers for 8 schools per year, it is apparent that the number of AUSL acquisitions is

driven by the number of AUSL graduates, and not necessarily by a case by case evaluation and

recommendation for each school needing improvement.

In 2006, AUSL acquired two schools for turnaround. In 2007, AUSL acquired two schools. In 2008,

AUSL acquired three schools. In 2009, AUSL acquired three schools. In 2010 AUSL acquired four

schools. In 2011, an election year, there were no AUSL acquisitions. In 2012, there were six AUSL

acquisitions. In 2013, there were six schools slated for AUSL turnarounds. five were eventually turned

over to AUSL. After strenuous community advocacy, the sixth, Clara Barton, was granted the opportunity

to improve using the transformation model. (Please note the correction from the letter of April 30 2014)

In 2014, the Board of Education voted to turn over three more schools to AUSL for turnarounds, bringing

their total portfolio to 32 schools. It should also be noted that the Board of Education approved CPS' 2013

Supplemental Capital Budget, including $11 million for AUSL turnarounds during the April, 2013 Board

meeting. The names of the turnaround schools to receive capital funds were listed in the proposed budget

even though the list of schools to be turned around was not finalized when the preliminary supplemental

budget was published for public comment. The Board approved the turnarounds at the May, 2013

meeting. The notion of competitive bidding or considering alternative school improvement plans and

providers apparently never entered the picture. What we're seeing play out at the Board of Education is

the implementation of school policies that are apparently based on Mayor Emanuel's campaign platform,

regardless of whether the policies are in the best interests of students or Chicago Public Schools.

In closing, we thank you for your consideration, and look forward to hearing the disposition of your

investigation. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Valerie F. Leonard at 773-571-3886 or

valeriefleonard@msn.com.

Sincerely,

Blocks Together

Educational Village Keepers Parent Teacher Student Association

The Lawndale Alliance

Dr. Grady Jordan, Retired Educator, Chicago Public Schools

Dr. Carmen Palmer, Retired Educator, Chicago Public Schools

Raise Your Hand for Illinois Education

Teachers for Social Justice

Christel Williams, Chicago Teachers Union

Parents United for Responsible Education