Arichely Medina should be spending the last months of high school making sure she has enough financial aid and scholarships to pay for college and preparing for prom and all the other exciting activities that come with graduation.Instead she is preparing to transfer to a new high school, just a few months before graduation. Arichely is one of about 545 students who attend two high schools run by the financially-distressed Aspira Charter School Network. More than 90% of students at the two schools are Latino, more than two-thirds are low income and more than half are English Language Learners.After months of back-and-forth, Chicago Public Schools officials are telling students that the network does not have the money to make it through the school year and that they should transfer before the start of the last quarter “to safeguard their education stability." While there’s debate about whether it is CPS’ fault or Aspira’s, such a mid-year school closing is virtually unheard of.Arichely, like other students, has a long list of concerns and questions about credits, grades, senior events and graduation. But she also has a more emotional worry. She lives far from her current school, Aspira Business and Finance Academy in Avondale, and, if she’s sent to her neighborhood school, she doesn’t think many of her friends will go there.She describes herself as shy and wonders what it will be like to walk into a new school three-quarters of the way into the year.“I think my biggest issue is that I'm going to have to reintroduce myself to people that I don't know,” she said. “Now I'm gonna be all alone, and I'm not gonna have the people that I'm used to having.” A poster of future events in jeopardy hangs on the door of Jose Torres’ classroom at ASPIRA Business Finance High School, located at 2989 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Chicago’s Avondale neighborhood.Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times CPS points to missing auditNews broke Thursday that CPS officials were making the call to transition students out of the two Northwest Side high schools run by Aspira Charter School Network. At the Chicago Board of Education meeting Thursday, CPS officials addressed the students before explaining their decision.“This is not the outcome that anyone hoped for,” said Zabrina Evans, CPS executive director of Innovation and Incubation. “We understand the stress and difficulty of today's news. We understand the uncertainty and disruption that comes with changing schools in the middle of the current school year.” Evans then explained that getting to this point has been “long and complicated,” but that essentially Aspira, like all charter organizations, agreed to operate a school with the money provided by CPS and that Aspira has not been able to do that.“CPS provides funding and support, and charter operators deliver educational services to students,” she said. Not only has Aspira been unable to prove to the district that it can provide those educational services through June, but the charter operator has failed to turn over an audit and other required financial documents, she said.She also noted that CPS has given Aspira $2.25 million in cash advances and yet the network still says it needs millions more to pay teachers and staff.CPS is “moving forward with this student transition process… due to the dire situation created by the failure of Aspira to demonstrate financial stability, which places the education of Aspira students at risk,” she said.Up until Wednesday night, Aspira Chief Executive Director Edgar Lopez seemed hopeful that he could save the schools. He told CPS that he was meeting with a bank to get a bridge loan and looking at fundraising, even a crowdfunding campaign.But speaking at the board meeting, Lopez blamed CPS for the charter schools’ financial problems. He said charters get 83% of what district-run CPS schools receive, though school district officials refute that figure.“I feel like charters are stepchildren to CPS,” he said. “Our families pay taxes just like all the rest of the families pay taxes. ”Lopez has also accused CPS of undermining charter schools through its high school application process by prioritizing sending students to district-run schools. Aspira’s executive director, Edgar Lopez, spoke with students at Aspira Business Finance High School on Wednesday. Lopez says the charter network’s financial troubles stem from chronic underfunding by Chicago Public Schools. Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times Charter schools’ budgets are closely tied to student enrollment and, with an overall decline in the CPS student population, charters are having trouble filling their seats. This year Aspira’s high schools started out with less than 600 students, some 200 less than five years ago. Charter school operators also cite other issues that have added to their financial troubles, including rising labor costs.Lopez told the board no “irregularities” will be found in Aspira’s finances and that it has had clean audits, but the one for last year is not yet complete.He pleaded with the board to keep the school intact, even if they remove Aspira management, at least until the end of the school year.“If this is for the kids, then worry about the kids,” he said.‘We should be celebrating our future’Arichely and dozens of other students and teachers attended Thursday’s meeting. Some of them assigned blame to Aspira and Lopez, while others said CPS is responsible and should do more.But more than anything, they lamented the fact that they were caught in the middle.Brian Walsh, who teaches math at the Business and Finance Academy, cited a study that showed students are more likely to drop out of school, face violence and suffer from depression after a mid-year school closing.He said teachers like him will figure out how to make it through, but they are worried about the students.“We need assurances that the students will be looked after and they will face as little fracture as possible,” he said. “CPS needs to give them the dignity of an actionable plan that does not repeat history. This is your responsibility, unless you are resigned to make them another statistic.” Students expressed frustration, but they also wanted to know what was going to happen next.Senior Lavelle Turner said he was looking forward to his last season playing on the Aspira baseball team and getting ready to take tests to see if he could get college credit for advanced placement classes. He wanted to know whether he would even be able to play baseball and complete his AP classes. “We should not have to pay and sacrifice our future,” he said. “We should be celebrating our future.” Aspira Charter School students speak during a school board meeting Thursday at Chicago Public Schools in Chicago. Talia Sprague/Chicago Sun-Times Arichely is on track to go to Loyola University. But now she is wondering if she will graduate on time and whether the transition will affect her ability to get scholarships.“How would a teacher that doesn't really know who we are write a recommendation letter,” she said. Arichely and other seniors said they were dismayed by the idea that they won’t get to go to senior luncheon, Six Flags and prom with each other.Arichely said she’s built a large group of friends and she looked forward to having fun with them, but if they aren’t at these events, she won’t go. “I think I'd feel a bit left out because I don't know anyone, and then I wouldn't feel comfortable going to a place or … participating in an activity without my friends,” she said. Senior Emilo Zurita said he is concerned that some students won’t even go to a new school, at least for the rest of this year.“I've heard them say if Aspira closes, they feel like dropping out because they don't feel safe in another school,” he said. “They'd rather drop out than be in a school where they could get shot or something could happen to them.”A warning for other charter schoolsConrad Timbers-Ausar, CPS’ acting chief portfolio officer, said he is working on a transition plan including a list of high schools near Aspira that will guarantee a seat to the displaced students. He said these schools will have a designated transition coordinator who will do check-ins with students.They also will be provided “wraparound services tailored to students needs including mentoring, tutoring, mental health services and more,” he told board members. “They will also be prepared to provide additional items like technology, uniforms and school gear that students may need to be successful in the school. Students will receive CPS bus cards to get safely to and from school.”The district will make sure that credits transfer and that students are able to complete classes, he said. Students will be given a letter to send to colleges explaining the transfer.Karen Zaccor, a school board member who represents the North Side, said she wants to make sure students can play on spring sports teams. She also instructed CPS officials to look into arranging senior events, like prom and graduation, exclusively for Aspira students, even if they are no longer together.“I think we need to think outside the box and make sure that those things happen,” she said. Debby Pope, who represents a different North Side district, called the situation a “terrible experience” and “unfair.”But she said she hopes this sends a warning to other charters.“You have to behave responsibly,” she said. “You have to have your finances in order. You have to be transparent. You have to turn in your audits. We cannot do this to our children. It is just not okay.” ...read more read less