Acero threatens CPS Board of Education over 'reckless' comments about planned charter closings

Acero Charter Schools, the private organization that is planning to close seven of its campuses next year, has threatened legal action against Chicago’s Board of Education, accusing school board members of making “defamatory” and “reckless” statements about the charter operator.

A cease and desist letter sent by the charter school network’s attorney Friday to the top lawyer at Chicago Public Schools said officials were “shocked to hear the reaction” of school board members who were highly critical of Acero at a public meeting Wednesday.

A group of Acero parents and educators angry about the proposed closures spoke at that meeting — as they have at several meetings in the past couple months — urging the board to take action to keep their children’s schools open. Acero plans to close seven of its 15 campuses at the end of this school year, citing rising expenses and falling enrollment over the last several years and looking ahead as a financial stressor. The schools primarily serve Latino students, and these would be the largest school closings ever in Chicago’s Latino communities.

The school board, appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson in October after the entire previous board resigned, has said it is deeply troubled by the closings. Some members have met with Acero parents, and the board has blamed both Acero for taking this step and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez for his handling of the situation. Martinez has said his administration is looking into potential solutions but that the board gave him too tight of a timeline to act.

At the meeting Wednesday, several board members made unusually candid and cutting remarks about Acero, including that its officials cared more about their bottom line than their students, that they provided faulty financial statements and that the closing of schools was “criminal.”

“We are here about your children, and Acero is here about their bottom line, and those are two very different concerns,” board member Debby Pope said. “I just have to wonder why one would have so much trust in a system where these people are considering their real estate interests and not the real interests, which are the interests of your boys and girls, who are studying and learning and trying to grow and develop.”

The board had summoned Acero leaders to attend that meeting and address concerns about the proposed closings, but nobody from the charter network showed up, which heightened tensions. A CPS official told the board at the meeting that the district had not heard a response from Acero about the invitation — but the charter network later provided a copy of a letter dated a day before the meeting informing CPS that its leaders would not attend. Acero leaders said they had met many times with CPS officials and had provided them with all information requested by senior staff.

In the cease and desist letter, Acero officials said they have complied with their obligations in their attempts to close schools, making it “false and reckless” to accuse the network of financial fraud or criminal behavior.

“It is entirely disparaging and substantially damaging to Acero’s interests and business reputation to so recklessly suggest otherwise,” read the letter from attorney Joseph Perkoski, a managing partner at the Robbins Schwartz law firm that’s representing Acero.

“Statements made by members of the Board in response to public comment were false, misleading and defamatory — not to mention unproductive given the seriousness of the situation that Acero is earnestly addressing with Chicago Public Schools administrators,” Perkoski wrote.

He demanded that the board stop making such comments: “Failure to do so will result in Acero pursuing legal action against the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education,” he wrote.

CPS officials didn’t immediately comment.

Acero has come under fire from parents, students, educators, the mayor and board members for the proposed closings.

An analysis by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times last month found that, while low enrollment and increased costs are impacting Acero’s financial health, the organization has $46 million in savings and investments — much more than it needs to satisfy bondholders.

Martinez has said the board’s demand to find a way to save the schools is a departure from past proposed charter closings, which have mostly proceeded with minimal pushback. Among the solutions proposed by CPS are giving Acero more money to continue running the schools for a short time or the district taking over the schools.