Inside Scoop On AQS High School [Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy]

A friend of a friend wants to know what the inside scoop is on AQS's sole high school, Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy. 

Here's what he knows: AQS has 8 schools, 6 in Chicago.  This school is the only high school of the eight. The ABEA offers its students a rigorous curriculum that prepares students for college, while giving students the fundamentals of business. The school is located in the newly refurbished Austin campus facility located at 231 North Pine Street. The ABEA welcomed its first class of just over 200 students in the fall of 2006.

Anyone know anything, or how to find out more?

Comments

[not a Gouletas]

American Quality Schools runs their charters through Chicago International Charter Schools. It has currently 6 charter schools in Chicago run through the umbrella CICS. AQS is supposedly the creation of Michael Bakalis who was the Illinois State Superintendent of Schools, and former state controller. He is a democrat and holds a position at Northwestern Univ Kellogg School of Management.

The person who really runs AQS on a day to day level is Vito Bianco the VP. Bianco was a VP for American Invesco which is a privately held condo developer in Chicago run by Nicholas Gouletas. Mr. Bianco made big money with Invesco. Invesco is a billion-dollar real estate development firm, which develops condominiums in, not only Illinois, but several other states including Georgia, Florida, Indiana, and Texas. Invesco has developed 40 or 50 buildings in Chicago. The law firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal has been heavily associated with Gouletas. Don Lubin is the major partner of Sonnenschein and is the chairman of Mayor Daley’s Renaissance Schools Fund. The Gouletas family has been suing each other for years and there are extensive court records relating to questionable deals carried out by Invesco during the time Bianco was a VP.

According to the Illinois State Board of Elections records Nicholas Gouletas has been a significant contributor to Mayor Daley for years. Steven Gouletas is on the Board of the Civic Federation. There have been rumors for years that the Gouletas Family had mob ties but this has not been proven. The family did own a Fla bank at one time that may have washed outfit money. The ties to the Daley administration are clear.

AQS in short is a front operation for Daley to privatize public education, Bakalis is the public face, Bianco runs the show. Alexander what else would you like to know?

[Jordan]

Do you know anything about the actual school and if it has been successful?

[Alexander]

wow - great back story. so the schools are "owned" by AQS but "run" by CICS, or is it the other way around? what's the education program like, and who runs that? anyone know anyone who teaches or taught there? we won't judge you.

Anyone know who this Mr. Hill guy is in HR? I called down there, got a real person too and asked about why my pay was off and the person told me that Mr. Hill something is now in charge of the software and they are getting it fixed/. True?
What happened to Runcie at OTS or the other top brass in HR? More changes--I hope for the better, but no bets here.

Go straight to payroll on the 12th floor and they will fix your pay.

[George Schmidt]

The "Hill" guy could be the newly appointed (April 25, 2007) M. Hills Hammock (honest, that's the name on the Board Report). Hills Hammock was approved as "Chief Administrative Officer/Chief Operating Officer" by the Board of Education at a salary of $170,000 per year at the April Board of Education meeting.

He's been running around trying to learn about the system that has made him its third highest paid executive ever since. He has, like most of those recently appointed to positions above $120,000 per year, no CPS or education experience -- straight from the place that really knows how to run schools, corporate Chicago.

He's a fairly tall white guy in his 50s who wears more expensive ties than Rufus Williams does. Arne Duncan refuses to prove the public with his resume, curriculum vitae, or work history under the NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS clause in the Freedom of Information Act.

[George Schmidt]

One of the reasons why all of these high-priced guys (e.g., but not only Hills Hammock) are running around about the payroll mess is they're panicked that one of the TV stations will realize there is a huge story about taxpayer-supported incompetence (the payroll software mess and its costs) right at 125 S. Clark St. and show up to interview a few people.

Even the prettiest guys on TV (re. "reporters") could spell "People Soft" with help and read into the seven and eight figures that have been wasted on that scam if enough teachers and others who'd been scammed lined up for interviews and talked slowly.

As you've probably noticed, CPS is the only tax-supported body in Chicago (or, for that matter, Cook County) that's not being carefully scrutinized on its spending now that Mayor Daley has admitted he lied about the need for tax increases last winter when he was running for re-election. The narrative about Chicago's "school reform miracle" and all that is still holding up, despite all the reality out there. Part of the reason is that the reporters who had some of the pieces of the story have now left for other places (Tracey Dell'angela and Lori Olszewski of the Tribune for example) and most of the media people are baffled by big numbers (like the amount of dollars Arne and his appointees have wasted on bad software deals -- going back now to the high school programming debacle two years ago), despite all of their Fox News style teacher bashing talk about "standards and accountability."

But how about that extra tax you have to pay to do any business at CPS or in the Loop in Daleyland?

Another side of the story, of course, is the double whammy when your check is screwed up (or doesn't arrive at all) -- paying for parking. Now that Mayor Daley's buddies at the local parking lots have been allowed to raise the (privatized) parking costs in the Loop again, everyone who lingers (or is forced to wait in line) is now forced to pay just under $30 to park within a half mile of the corporate HQ of CPS.

Oh, that's right, you can pay $4 or more to ride one of those eternally slow CTA trains (or even slower buses) on a hot day to do you business.

Miracles and the towns that believe in them!

You gotta love it.

Next thing you'll know, they'll be trying to give away another brand new schhool to a bunch of political hustlers with connections to the aldermen, state reps, and state senators along Division Street.

Whoops... Didn't we do that with Aspira Haugan? Well, if it failed once at a cost of more than $30 million (facilities and operational costs), let's do it again at Moos at an even greater cost...

Actually, you have no choice but to drive. During the school year, if you work a full day it is impossible to get on the bus and get downtown before 125 clases for business!

Hey ya'll. Is there anyone out there who has worked for AQS and knows anything about this school (Austin) or about how their schools are run in general. Would you accept a job offer there? (I know, George, you wouldn't. Anyone else?)

investigative googling -

http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/Boards/vc/members/hammock.asp
http://www.uic.edu/classes/mba/mba590/execinclassroom/HillHammock.htm

And from his Crain's profile -

Résumé gap: Has never worked in education or for a publicly funded organization.

What amazes me is how CPS keeps hiring all these people at 100,000 dollar salaries without Educational Experience on their resumes but yet they make sure that they terminate as many teachers and administrators possible through the Inspector General's Office and the Law Department. If these offices were on the up and up they would release actual reports against people and not just summaries when asked to do so and they would tape record their sessions with you. But they are as crooked as the day is long! Not to mention the Law Department. Tell me is it legal for the Law Department (James Ciesil) to verbally recommend somebody be suspended with pay (although nothing is in writing) and then 10 days later have HR send this person a termination letter? Since when is something as serious as a suspension not in writing?!

[not a Gouletas]

Both AQS and CICS are not for profit entities. CICS provides the umbrella for charters that are not run by AQS such as Civtas Schools, Edison Schools, and Victory Charter Schools out of NYC. CICS is controlled by the Chicago Charter School Foundation (CCSF). It is called a charter management organization (CMO). CCSF uses what is called in the charter school world “a multiple-EMO network model.” In general between the actual charter operator and CCSF about 14% of the revenues of the school go to so called EMO/CMO fees. This multiple model allows CCSF to share fiscal risk with operators, some of which are for-profit and some of which are not-for profit. CCSF itself currently has about 12 employees with salaries totaling a little over 1 million dollars a year.

The teachers and administrators are employees of the EMOs not CCSF, each EMO has a different pay scale and employment policy. School based administration salaries are separate line items in the budgets and are not covered by EMO fees which are paid directly to the EMO parent organizations. In general these charter operators may have pre-packaged proprietary curriculum and or have purchase agreements with major publishers such as McGraw Hill or Prentice Hall or Scott Foresman. Although Jim Murphy who I believe traded on the CBOE initially created CCSF, he has passed the torch on. CCSF’s power house and member of its Board is David Chizewer a principal of the law firm Goldberg Kohn. He was the lead attorney in defending CCSF in a law suit brought against it by the failed EMO SABIS. The court records for that case provide much interesting reading indeed.

Chizewer is also on the Board of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. Goldberg Kohn is a significant contributor to Mayor Daley’s various re-election efforts.

Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy is actually a joint effort of the American Quality Schools, the Westside Ministers Coalition and the Allstate Corporation. Reverend Lewis Flowers is chairman of the Westside Ministers Coalition and he often speaks at CPS Board meetings. Reverend Flowers and his Coalition has extensive funding ties to the Daley administration and has been criticized indirectly for this by some Black activists such as Robert Starks, political science professor at Northeastern University's Center for Inner-City studies who has said: "The note is going to come due and the ministers are going to be expected to deliver." Part of that note payment is joining the effort to privatize public education.

Alexander I assume that answers at least some of your questions. Since you are one of Chicago’s major education reports I would have thought you knew all this stuff already?

[Alexander]

thanks, not a gouletas --
some of this i know but not all of it -- you are way ahead of me.

Not...
Thanks for the info and analysis. It shows what a different world charter schools have become since the early days of teacher-run small schools. You can only wonder about accountability with these schools and their powerhouse CMOs.

[You all voted for Daley and Carothers so shut up]

Shut up.

[Charlie]

Quick point, CICS is a pretty big exception to the way the average charter school is run in the city. They are the only operator I know of that has such a convoluted management structure. Your average charter school in the city are mostly run by single organizations (UNO, University of Chicago)or in the case of a few, the teachers who started them (Namaste, Noble, Perspectives to name a few).

This, however, is very interesting information. I guess I'm not surprised, CICS was one of the first operators to replicate in the city, probably as a trial run before Daley started inviting others to do so.

You might notice too, that it's not much of a coincidence to see folks in the real estate business involved in charter schools, either in governance or funding, especially in neighborhoods that they are working to develop. It's in their best interest for these neighborhoods to have better school choices as one way to increase property value.

[I told you.]

1241 now you see why the law dept and i.g. wanted Ramos off the LSC so they can keep their principal at Curie.

So what can be done about the abusive nature of the IG office and the Law Department. Did Ciesil have the right to suspend somebody with pay when it wasn't in writing and then have HR send termination papers without a termination hearing? What is Ramos doing to combat them?

[Good friend of George]

Austin needs a Noble Street and a Perspectives campus. They rock!

"CCSF itself currently has about 12 employees with salaries totaling a little over 1 million dollars a year."

Whoa, ONE MILLION DOLLARS a year! The next time Mr. Schmidt, Kugler, and the other teachers union apologists decry the massive privatization of public schools, let's all agree to keep things in perspective. CICS--the largest public charter school operator in Chicago--is a twelve-person organization earning a very small fraction of what CPS spends on its bloated downtown and citywide bureaustructure.

"CCSF itself currently has about 12 employees with salaries totaling a little over 1 million dollars a year."

Whoa, ONE MILLION DOLLARS a year! The next time Mr. Schmidt, Kugler, and the other teachers union apologists decry the massive privatization of public schools, let's all agree to keep things in perspective. CICS--the largest public charter school operator in Chicago--is a twelve-person organization earning a very small fraction of what CPS spends on its bloated downtown and citywide bureaustructure.

"CCSF itself currently has about 12 employees with salaries totaling a little over 1 million dollars a year."

Whoa, ONE MILLION DOLLARS a year! The next time Mr. Schmidt, Kugler, and the other teachers union apologists decry the massive privatization of public schools, let's all agree to keep things in perspective. CICS--the largest public charter school operator in Chicago--is a twelve-person organization earning a very small fraction of what CPS spends on its bloated downtown and citywide bureaustructure.

Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy is NOT a charter public school and is NOT one of the charter public schools operated under the CCSF charter.

[Charlie]

11:53 is right. Here's what it says about the Austin school at the Ren2010 Web site:

1 Contract School ( First Official Contract School)

Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy | http://www.aqs.org

231 N. Pine Avenue | Chicago, IL 60623 | P: 773-534-6316 | F: 312-226-1027 | Unit 7020

Contact: Stefan Fisher, feeshmon620@aol.com

Current Grade: 9 th

Grades at Capacity: 9 th – 12 th

Year Opened: Fall 2006

* Founded by the Westside Ministers Coalition in partnership with American Quality Schools, the Austin Business and Entrepreneurship Academy is a school of high standards providing students with a strong academic foundation, business knowledge, social skills, and practical experiences to enable them to pursue economic opportunity for themselves and create economic opportunity for the Austin community.

[not Charlie]

Having just read the comments on AQS above the poster appears to have never indicated that an AQS contract schools would be run in conjunction with CCSF. The poster said that AQS ran its charter schools through CCSF.

But that raises an intersting point. Is it cheaper for CPS to create contract schools with EMOs than charters run through CCSF given the fees involved? Moreover, it raises the question that if AQS can operate without the CCSF umbrella, why hasn't CPS issued charters directly to it? What is the point of CCSF other than allowing CPS to exceed the state limit on charter schools within the city by issuing it numerous sites.