Chicago City Wire

After Chicago Public Schools (CPS) rejected a charter request by Chicago Classical Academy, founder Alice Epstein and her team of administrators decided not to continue an appeal with the state and instead are waiting out the storm. 

"The founders of Chicago Classical decided to withdraw the appeal to the state once it became apparent that a denial was certain,” Epstein told the Chicago City Wire. “The political climate in the city was simply not conducive to a project like Chicago Classical.”

Classical education, an alternative to traditional public schools, has a unique focus compared to public schools, Epstein explained

Alice Epstein

"Classical education aims at training the minds and developing the hearts of students to lead a life worthy of a free man," she said. "It is not an education that focuses on utility, but on a systematic approach to the development of knowledge, through a language-based, integrated, and structured curriculum that cycles through a child's natural stages of mental development."

CPS is focused more on college acceptance and career readiness by offering a number of curriculum options to students who need their education catered to their needs, she said. 

Epstein believes that CPS' decision was a politically driven one, rather than opposition to the idea of classical education.

"The opposition was driven by local city politics, the relationships between aldermen and the Chicago Teachers' Union, as well as general mistrust of charter schools by some communities," she said.

For the time being, the CCA will continue to develop its plan for the future.

"If the time is right, we will try again," Epstein said. "Right now we are working on consolidating all the work we have done. We are revamping our website to serve as a go-to source for families and educators seeking more background on the classical approach to education.”