Who is the AUSL?

"They gave us air conditioning, they gave us a ramp, they gave us a new library -- no librarian, but they gave us a new library," teacher Ollie Clements said. CPS released a statement from Barbara Byrd-Bennett that says AUSL has a record of improving schools from the ground up, and that "when change is in the best interest of our students, we will not waver." Chicago Teacher's Union president Karen Lewis disagrees. "This is about adult interests and the people who benefit politically," Lewis said. ____ NBC 5 News NBCChicago.com 4/9/14 Ollie Clements, who has two grandchildren at Gresham, said she’s tired of money flowing freely to charter schools, while resources are taken away from neighborhood schools. She had a message for Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “We don’t want to beg you anymore, we want what’s ours, and we demand what’s ours, and if you cannot give it to us, you will not get the votes come election time,” she said. ____ CBS 2 News Chicago 3/26/14 Byrd-Bennett said the school district "will not waver" when "change is in the best interest of our students." Byrd-Bennett's statement was a slap in the face to Ollie Clements, who has two grandsons that attend Gresham. If CPS will not waver, then why hold community meetings and hearings to gather public input about the proposed school actions, Clements asked. "That [statement] tells us a lot, because that means ... she's not going through this whole [public input] process," Clements said. She also pointed out that CPS spent money on recent upgrades at Gresham, such as two elevators and air conditioning, to accommodate a charter school that was supposed to share the building with Gresham this school year. The charter school ended up not moving into the building. It bothers Clements that CPS was able to find funds to pay for the upgrades, yet the district has not provided additional resources to the school to help with problems like classroom overcrowding. "They didn't share any additional resources with us," she said. "We asked for additional resources. Of course, we did not get anything. We have a class size of second graders of 32 kids in a class. That is really overwhelming for any teacher....But if we don't have the resources, how can we hire any new teachers to help?" She added that AUSL has an unfair advantage because it has a bulk of resources to help it improve a school's academic performance. AUSL comes "into a setting where the children are making progress, where there's an upward swing, so when they come in and they start teaching to the kids there, they'll take the credit for having made that progress, and that's really not fair," she stressed. "That's not giving the credit to the teachers that are there doing more than an adequate job." If teachers at the three schools are fired, Clements said she is specifically concerned about what will happen to the long-time, veteran educators. In an interview Friday In an interview Friday, AUSL spokeswoman Deirdre Campbell countered complaints from critics. “It’s structured, not strict, we think that it’s really important that all of the students understand what the expectations are,” Campbell said. On the subject of AUSL faculty inexperience, she said, “If you’re a highly effective teacher, we think it’s great to have opportunities for growth,” while conceding that “if they’ve been through the process and they kind of know the ropes, they might move on.” Campbell did say that teachers who are fired in a turnaround are still eligible to apply to AUSL teaching programs. “We have had both faculty and staff return, and many have been very pleased.” AUSL schools do receive more funding. While the amount spent on each student is the same according to Illinois State Board of Education, AUSL receives an additional $300, 000 one-time administrative fee from CPS at the start of the turnaround. For the following five years, AUSL schools get an extra $420 per student, money that Campbell says is invested directly back into the school, and covers the cost of paying for teacher-coaches and staff support. After five years, AUSL fundraises privately for additional support programs such as City Year, a group of volunteers who aid teachers in the classroom. AUSL also has the same advantage as most charter schools to plan their own budget. “Because we’re a non-profit, it is my understanding that we decide how those dollars should be deployed,” Campbell said. Parent-resistance to a turnaround program is not unusual. “The parents that have spoken out loudest against the turnaround become our strongest advocates,” Campbell said.