Woodland Elementary Dist. 50: We're not against charter schools
Woodland Elementary District 50 board President Mark Vondracek says there was no animosity behind a lawsuit he and other officials authorized that could lead to the closure of a small charter school in Grayslake.
Vondracek spoke at the top of District 50's special school board meeting Tuesday. The meeting was held mostly so board members could discuss unspecified litigation in a closed-door session.
Gurnee-based Woodland's meeting was the first since Cook County Circuit Judge Thomas Allen on March 23 agreed with the district's position in a lawsuit and found a state agency erred in granting permission for Prairie Crossing Charter School to operate through the 2018-19 academic season.
Prairie Crossing eventually could be forced to close if Allen's ruling stands. Vondracek made his first public comments about the case since issuing a statement after Allen's finding last week.
“The Woodland board of education does not oppose the existence of charter schools,” Vondracek said. “We do, however, oppose the existence of a school that does not uphold the Illinois charter schools law, which requires special emphasis on increasing learning opportunities for educationally at-risk students because they live in poverty or struggle with the English language.”
Woodland has been at odds with Prairie Crossing since it opened in 1999, because Illinois law requires District 50 to send state aid money to the charter school to cover children whose parents shift them there from the larger district.
District 50 alleged in the suit the Illinois State Charter School Commission last year should not have voted to allow Prairie Crossing to stay open because it did not boost student diversity as directed in its last approval in 2009.
Allen agreed with Woodland's argument, which included the percentage of at-risk students in each school system. Woodland has about 31 percent low-income students compared to Prairie Crossing's 0.5 percent, according to the most recent 2014 Illinois State Board of Education report card.
Two former board members at Prairie Crossing and Woodland spoke at Tuesday's meeting and expressed satisfaction with the judge's ruling in the case.
Laura Elizabeth Fay, who served on the Prairie Crossing board, said the charter school never has been able to get beyond its “startup growing pains” as enrollment grew.
“I'm not sad about Judge Allen's decision,” Fay said. “This school has been given chances to improve for three (charter) renewals and for 15 years, but it has chosen not to.”
Gail Bennett, who served on the Woodland board, said the lawsuit against Prairie Crossing was “a good thing for the district.” She added she does not believe the charter school will close.
Charter school officials said a motion will be filed to stay Allen's ruling in an effort to allow the school's continued operation until the case is decided by a state appellate court.
Prairie Crossing has an environmentally focused curriculum. The 432-student capacity school is within the borders of Woodland and Fremont Elementary District 79 in the Mundelein area.
Woodland and Fremont parents may send their children to Prairie Crossing, which determines enrollment by lottery. Woodland generally has been required to send about $3 million in state aid annually to support children from the district at the charter school.
Prairie Crossing is one of four state-authorized charter schools. Unlike traditional public schools, the charter schools launched by the state must go through a periodic renewal process.