Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago newest church-affiliated charter school

Mike Klonsky's SmallTalk Blog: Chicago newest church-affiliated charter school:

Chicago newest church-affiliated charter school

School planner, Donnita Travis

Sometimes even cynical me can be found gasping at the audacity of Chicago's charter school hustlers. My latest gasp came after reading about the newest church-affiliated charter approved by the mayor's hand-picked school board last week, targeted for the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's west side.

It's called By The Hand Charter School, situated within theBy The Hand Club for Kids and created by a group associated with the Moody Bible Institute. The school plan grew out of the church's faith-based after-school program in 2012 started by the club's politically-connected Exec. DirectorDonnita Travis.

Travis is leading the planning team for the new charter. She's no educator but is the partner in a Chicago advertising agency who claims that, "God revealed the vision for By The Hand Club For Kids" to her." I suppose the Lord also told her to start a publicly-funded, privately-run charter school and instructed the Board to approve it. Hallelujah!

Community groups  protests BTH Charter

Remember when CEO Byrd-Bennett told us that no new charters would be created to replace closed neighborhood schools for the next five years? The Moody Church-associated charter will be situated with a mile of four closed Austin neighborhood schools — Francis Scott Key, Louis Armstrong, Horatio May and Robert Emmet elementary schools.

I suppose board members felt that since they had