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Tagged: Bronzeville Classical, Classical school, SEES
- This topic has 14 replies, 2 voices, and was last updated 6 years, 1 month ago by Hopeful.
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chicagoschooloptionsKeymaster
http://schoolinfo.cps.edu/schoolprofile/SchoolDetails.aspx?SchoolId=610590
Bronzeville Classical School (8 W. Root St.) is a tight-knit community that honors the individual talents and aptitudes of each student. We develop the skills of academically advanced students through culturally relevant problem-based learning experiences. We foster an environment that promotes collaboration, investigation, innovation, and effective communication, preparing them for the jobs of the 21st century yet to be created. Our goal is for students to develop agency, advocacy, and identity, enabling them to be thoughtful change agents and productive global citizens.
Bronzeville Classical School still has seats available. The deadline to complete the Selective Enrollment Elementary School Application is Wednesday, May 9th. A copy of the application can be picked up either at Alderman Dowell’s Office at 5046 S. State St. or at The New Dyett High School for the Arts at 555 E. 51st St.
We have scheduled three Open House dates for you to attend and hear more about the vision and instructional program for Bronzeville Classical School. All Open House will be hosted at the New Dyett High School for the Arts in Room 013 from 5:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. Please use this link to register.
Monday, May 7th
Thursday, May 17th
Thursday, May 24th
Please contact Principal Nicole Spicer at 773-535-1166 or 708-831-1861 with any questions or for more information.
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Heather PolkGuest
I am RSVP’ing for the Monday, May 7th open house. I look forward to learning more about the school and meeting the leadership.
Thanks,
Heather Polk
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chicagoschooloptionsKeymaster
The above post was just for informational purposes. Please refer to the phone number to call if you want to contact Bronzeville Classical directly. Sorry if it was confusing. This forum was created to share information about schools and get the word out about school options, so the info was shared here but this forum is not affiliated with the school. Good luck on your school search!
- This reply was modified 6 years, 6 months ago by chicagoschooloptions.
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DelliaGuest
Anyone apply to this program? What are your thoughts given it will be a new program with a brand-new admin team and teachers? We submitted an app and not sure we will even get in, but so on the fence on if we do, should we. So many unknowns…quality of admin, teachers, location, diversity, overall new, new, new. Please share!
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Impressed by BronzevilleGuest
We were extremely impressed by Bronzeville’s new principal, who was the assistant principal at Skinner North. The curriculum is supposed to be identical to Skinner North and Skinner West Classical. And the new facilities look amazing. Our child was offered a spot, and we accepted, even though it meant giving up a spot at a highly regarded magnet school.
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WorryMuchGuest
Can you tell us what the process was like to get accepted to Bronzeville?
Do you mind sharing what your child’s score was to get accepted?-
MommyoftwoGuest
Tier 3, 99 reading/97 math. We did Round 2 for 1st grade and got accepted today. I hadn’t applied there before. We’re actually transferring from one of the Gifted Centers because this is much closer to home.
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Bronzeville DadGuest
98m/90r, tier 4, 2nd grade. We listed Bronzeville in December, once it became an option. It seems like anyone who listed it originally, and got a qualifying score, made it in. Not sure if it became more competitive in the second round. We accepted after meeting the principal and hearing her vision to emulate Skinner North, where she was assistant principal.
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J.RGuest
Any feedback for Beasley? How is gifted program at Beasley? Any help Help is appreciated.
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Guy Knows SomethingGuest
A friend of a friend pointed me to this recently, allegedly the former assistant principal (current Bronzeville Elementary principal) Nicole Spicer is implicated in this. May explain why she left Skinner North in such a hurry after such a short time there.
Please share until Chicago Public Schools acknowledges that my voice does indeed exist.I work in special education for…
Posted by Joe Castro on Tuesday, May 15, 2018
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Guy Knows SomethingGuest
A friend of a friend pointed me to this recently, allegedly the former assistant principal (current Bronzeville Elementary principal) Nicole Spicer is implicated in this. May explain why she left Skinner North in such a hurry after such a short time there.
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Nicolle HellerGuest
As the Skinner North LSC chair person for the past two years, I can unequivocally state that Ms. Spicer was loved and respected by our community. Our principal had a leave of absence during that time, and Ms. Spicer, working closely with our incredible teachers and staff, ably led our school. CPS quickly saw her strong leadership, compassion, and intelligence and wisely asked her to head up their new Classical School. We recognized that while it was a blow to our community, it was an honor and a golden opportunity for her career, so we reluctantly allowed her to leave. The children of the new school are very fortunate to have such a terrific leader.
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Alicia W BlaisGuest
Are any girls going to Bronzeville? My daughter was just given a first grade spot at Bronzeville. In the threads I’ve seen it’s all boys who have accepted spots. There were only 6 girls in her kindergarten class and I would like to send her to a more evenly divided 1st grade or at least 1/3 girls.
Are there science rooms in the school?
Also CPS has there only being 33 students at the school, what’s up with that?
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chicagoschooloptionsKeymaster
Great article from Chalkbeat Chicago: https://chalkbeat.org/posts/chicago/2018/09/07/bronzeville-classical-optimistic-parents-open-seats/
A new school in Bronzeville says a lot about what parents want
BY CASSIE WALKER BURKE – 14 HOURS AGOPHOTO: Cassie Walker BurkeThe first day of school, Nicole Spicer woke up at 4 a.m., put on a kelly-green blouse that matched her school colors, and was greeting new families at the door by 7:30 a.m.
By 9:30 a.m., the founding principal of the new Bronzeville Classical Elementary had run the school leadership gauntlet: encouraging her small cadre of teachers, welcoming jittery students and parents, and throwing an opening-day party complete with a balloon trellis and visits from such VIPs as Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago schools CEO Janice Jackson.
Her venti Starbucks coffee had long grown cold. So she headed to the teachers’ lounge to zap it in the microwave before embarking on another tour of the building, a former elementary school that closed under former schools chief Arne Duncan, reopened as a charter, then closed again.
In the school-choice era in Chicago, school buildings can have many incarnations, and 8 West Root Street’s latest says a lot about what parents in and around Bronzeville want. The only new selective enrollment school opening this year, it comes amid amped-up debate about the degree to which test-in schools pick off accelerated learners and middle-class families at the expense of neighborhood programs.
The debate recently has been stoked by reports that paint a never-before-seen picture of supply and demand in individual schools as well as the startling number of open seats in neighborhood schools.
PHOTO: Cassie Walker BurkeA case study in what a school can look like with robust support, Bronzeville Classical’s deep bench consists of black religious and business leaders from the community around it. A multimillion gut rehab puts its facilities-wise on par with private schools — there are smart boards in classrooms, a new playground and turf area, even a donated pottery kiln. And the principal has ties with the historically black neighborhood, which still really matters in Chicago.
“Bronzeville has always been a part of who I am,” said Spicer, who grew up near 41st and Indiana streets and attended Catholic schools in the area, despite family who were alums of Phillips High School. “I couldn’t pass up this opportunity.”
The opportunity she’s describing is building a school from the ground up, from hiring the staff to prioritizing Spanish-language immersion and music theory to recruiting the students. Since the school was announced last December, Bronzeville Classical has enrolled 80 children in grades K through second, with plans to add a grade each year. It still has 100 students to go to reach its initial goal.
To recruit more families, Spicer is setting up her front office to help families navigate the selective-enrollment process, which includes completing a centralized online application and registering children for a testing appointment at a facility near IIT. There will also be orientations for prospective families, tours, a social media push, and workshops for families, said Assistant Principal Raven Talley. “When you walk into a school, you want to feel and see the community and the culture,” Talley said.
Not everyone who lives in the surrounding neighborhoods can attend the school, no matter the supports. That bothers public education organizers like Jitu Brown, the national director for the Journey for Justice Alliance. He has long encouraged CPS to stop segregating students by test scores and shower its neighborhood schools with the same resources and attention it gives new schools. “The rest of our babies are left to languish in neighborhood schools that are starved.”
In essence, other schools could use smart boards and Spanish immersion. A balloon trellis wouldn’t hurt.
The parent perspective
Brittany Smith, the parent of a first-grader at Bronzeville Classical, sympathizes with that argument. But, at 27, she’s part of a generation that came up in the choice era, traveling to a magnet school as an elementary student that was near the Indiana border and then attending Whitney Young, the city’s first public magnet high school.
In other words, “I’m used to the idea,” she said.
Smith lives in Bronzeville, just down the street from Ida B. Wells Preparatory, which reported an average kindergarten class size of 38 last year (the district average was 16.9, according to the 2017 Illinois School Report Card.) Put off by the class sizes, she tested her daughter and gained admission into a selective-enrollment school that was a 20-minute drive from her house. When she heard about Bronzeville Classical, which would be less than 5 minutes away, she applied. “I can tell there is a lot of support from the teachers and the principal, and it’s in the neighborhood.”
For many families, the decision to transfer to a new school with no record is not made lightly. There’s no word of mouth and no test score data to compare, though classical schools — which teach a grade level above, focus on language, and usually have strong art and music programs — are consistently among the district’s highest performing.
A few days in, both Smith and another parent, Alicia Blais, who lives in McKinley Park, feel encouraged. Smith, who is black, appreciates the diversity of the school (numbers aren’t fully in, but an early measure shows the school at 50 percent black, 20 percent Asian, and 10 percent white, with a third of the students qualifying as low-income), the sparkling facility, and the fact that her daughter comes home happy.
Blais, who is white, says Spicer and her assistant principal are working with her to provide the right experience for her daughter, who is highly sensitive. Already, the first grader has really connected with the Spanish teacher. Calling it a “last stop” before moving to the suburbs, Blais said, “We are one of many parents who need this school to work.”
Design from the ground up
The siren call of a new school doesn’t just lure parents. Educators hear it, too. An award-winning reading specialist who formerly served as assistant principal at another classical school, Skinner North, Spicer participated in a highly competitive process for the principalship. It culminated with her speaking in a public forum last spring alongside another finalist.
After getting the job and taking what she describes as a “listening tour” of community organizations, she approached hiring her small staff with the same careful scrutiny: sorting through hundreds of applications to find a diverse roster of candidates. She opted for full-time music, PE, and Spanish in addition to her K-2 classroom teachers, special education teacher, and a counselor. In lieu of full-time art, a nonprofit group will come in and teach one day a week. (An alum of Golden Apple, the prestigious Illinois teacher training program, Spicer said three of her hires share those ties)
For Jessica Lyons, the Spanish teacher, who previously taught in a Catholic school, the chance to build curriculum from the ground up was persuasive. So was Spicer’s vision of earning a Seal of Biliteracy. For her, that means teaching classes completely in Spanish and cultivating a positive mindset around learning languages through books like “La Vaca Que Decía Oink,” about a cow that says oink. “I’ve designed Spanish programs at schools before, but this is an opportunity to really start something from the ground up and have ownership over it.”
Music teacher Reginald Spears has been working in Chicago schools for a decade, most recently at the nearby Doolittle Elementary. He brings with him a vision for a musical curriculum that prepares children for elementary band, or orchestra, complete with sight reading and songwriting. At some schools, music is viewed as a vehicle to teach reading or math, he explains — here, it’s a subject worthy of its own study and exploration.
He also brings training in calm classroom techniques, such as breathing and stretching, that he has shared with his fellow teachers. “I’m excited that this going to be part of the school.”
But despite the gleaming hallways and pottery kiln, Bronzeville Classical is still a public school in Chicago and can’t escape the realities of the district’s ongoing budget crunch. So Spears’ ambitions of a piano lab and a suite of shiny instruments might require some creativity. He plans to start the way teachers across the city do — a crowdsourcing page on the website Donors Choose.org.
- This reply was modified 6 years, 1 month ago by chicagoschooloptions.
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HopefulGuest
I truly wish the school much success!!
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