Education

CPS Renews Urban Prep Charter Schools Contract After District Previously Sought to Take Over Schools

Chicago schools officials have approved a new contract for a South Side charter operator, years after the district attempted to take over the charter’s operations after allegations of financial mismanagement and sexual misconduct.

The Chicago Board of Education on Thursday approved a new two-year charter renewal for Urban Prep Charter Academy, which operates a pair of high schools predominantly serving Black male students.

With those votes, the charter’s Bronzeville and Englewood campuses will remain open at least through the end of the 2026-27 school year.

Supporters at the meeting called on CPS to grant the charter an even longer renewal.

Ald. Lamont Robinson (4th Ward) on Thursday called for Urban Prep to receive a three- to five-year renewal, calling the schools a “symbol of hope, structure and opportunity for Black boys on the South Side of Chicago.”

Joyanna Smith, chief program and operations officer of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, called Urban Prep a “vital part of Chicago’s educational landscape.”

“We must champion schools that are making a measurable impact, that support begins with the renewal process,” she told the board. “If CPS is truly committed to advancing outcomes for Black children, then supporting Urban Prep must be part of that commitment.”

A previous iteration of the board voted in October 2022 to revoke Urban Prep’s charters with CPS set to take over management of those schools amid allegations of financial mismanagement and sexual misconduct by Urban Prep leadership.

Urban Prep’s founder Tim King resigned his position that year following an investigation into allegations he sexually touched and groomed a minor student. King has denied those allegations, though they were substantiated in a report from the CPS Office of Inspector General.

That investigation found Urban Prep refused to take appropriate action to ensure student safety while these allegations were being investigated. CPS officials have also claimed Urban Prep leadership repeatedly failed to meet additional conditions of its charter.

A Cook County judge ruled in 2023 that the board’s charter revocation violated a districtwide moratorium on school closures, though an Illinois appellate court later overturned that ruling the following year.

While all charter renewals are contingent on meeting certain conditions, the board on Thursday installed additional conditions unique to Urban Prep, including a requirement that the charter’s board members, administrators and employees must “cooperate in all United States federal government investigations and comply with all directives from its entities.”

WBEZ reported earlier this year that the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago launched a probe into Urban Prep in 2022.

Those same employees must also “comply and cooperate” with the board’s right to “permanently bar individuals, including Tim King,” from any CPS property and from having contact with Urban Prep Academies or CPS students.

“Urban Prep Academies shall require Urban Prep Academies’ security staff to reasonably coordinate with CPS security staff to ensure that CPS security is alerted to the presence of any such barred person on CPS property,” the charter renewal agreement states.

The agreement also mandates that Urban Prep submit a “plan for a reformed governance structure” by the end of July as well as a new code of ethics and internal controls to ensure those standards are being maintained.

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