Public hearing for District 187 charter school proposal set for Feb. 2

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Updated: March 26, 2012 1:58AM

Back in October, School District 187 Superintendent Milt Thompson said not only that plans for a charter school were proceeding, but that “the clock was ticking” if the project could open for the 2012-13 school year.

The clock ticked forward Wednesday with a community forum at North Chicago High School, where a crowd of around 200 people were told that a yes-or-no vote on the concept must be taken by the Board of Education before March 5.

While outlining such details, Dr. Ben Martindale, who is acting as a liason between the district and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE), stressed that nothing has been decided.

“There is a perception out there that this is a done deal, but it is a proposal at this point,” Martindale said, adding that the project “is only partway down the path.”

The process will include a required public hearing on Feb. 2 at which prospective charter operators will be in attendance.

Charter schools are managed by private agencies but operated within a public school district, with tuition-free enrollment open to all district students.

The North Chicago charter is eyed as a kindergarten-through-eighth-grade facility that would house up to 500 students and would feature a focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

A total of three non-profit applicants submitted proposals requested by the district last fall: Concept Schools, which proposed a “Great Lakes Math and Science Academy”; LEARN CharterSchool Network; and SABIS Educational Systems Inc., which offered a prospective name of “North Chicago Preparatory Charter School.”

Also last year, the district began negotiations to house a charter school in a building at Naval Station Great Lakes that formerly housed a naval hospital corpsmen school.

It remains to be seen if the state will allow a North Chicago charter to allow a greater percentage of students from military families than from the general population. Current state law basically states that charter schools have open enrollment via an application process, with a lottery held for all applicants if the number exceeds available slots.

Navy liason Jerry Heib said a charter school would “make Great Lakes a more attractive duty station” for personnel with families.

“Believe it or not, the reputation of District 187 is known throughout the Navy,” Heib said. “We need to attract the best and brightest sailors to train our future sailors.”

Another factor at play is that District 187 is operating under an intergovernmental cooperative agreement that gives the State Board of Education oversight of many of its decisions and operations, including the charter proposal.

In light of the oversight agreement, Martindale told the gathering that ISBE could override whatever the district board decides to do. He added that “it is not the desire of the state board to do that.”

Thompson said that a charter school is viewed by district officials as one element in a “monumental undertaking” to improve academic standing.

“It’s one of a slew of innovative approaches we have in mind,” Thompson said. “It’s not the only domino, and it’s not the only domino that’s going to happen now, but it’s part of a comprehensive plan. ... We’ve got to get better.”

A charter school at Great Lakes would represent the first such military/public school partnership in the state, and would be the second charter in Lake County, following Prairie Crossing Charter in Grayslake.