Charter School Company Applies for Lincoln Square Location

A network of charter schools is eyeing Lincoln Square for a new K-12 facility.

Concept Schools is a charter schools management company with 27 locations across the Midwest and approximately 10,500 students.

Attorneys from the company recently filed an application for a zoning change with the city, according to an announcement from Ward 40 Ald. Patrick O’Connor.

The proposed location, at 2050 W. Balmoral Ave., is an industrial building formerly home to a lighting company.

Concept Schools spokesperson Salim Ucan said transforming the space into a charter school would be a $10 million project. Charter schools are independently-operated public schools. They’re largely reliant on state funding, so parents don’t pay tuition, but a board and charter sponsor oversees each school.

Though Ucan said the alderman gave an initial blessing for the project, O’Connor’s statement said the City Council would not make a decision on zoning until the community hears a plan and provides feedback. 

The proposed school will model another Concept Schools facility, the Chicago Math and Science Academy at 7212 N. Clark St. Ucan said the Rogers Park academy has about 600 students enrolled and almost 1,000 on the waiting list.

With that, Concept Schools decided to expand. The company went on a citywide search for a good community and facility, Ucan said.

“It’s a community that we’re familiar with and it just fits into our vision,” he said about the proposed location. “I think it’s something that the community would welcome, to have such a high-quality option for education.”

While the Chicago Math and Science Academy serves grades six through 12, the new school would eventually be a kindergarten through 12th grade experience.

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If approved, the school hopes to be open by September, Ucan said. Its first year will have students from kindergarten to eighth grades, and will add a grade each year until reaching the 12th grade. Ucan predicts an enrollment of 400 students in the initial year.

Tuesday, the proposal is set to go before the state charter school commission, Ucan said. If that verdict is positive, the community and city would decide to approve or reject the project.

Representatives will meet with residents, as well as the Bowmanville Community Organization to explain the school’s concept.

“They fully intend to make themselves available to the community to answer any questions, get feedback and accommodate the concerns of the community,” O’Connor said in his statement.

As of Monday, the date for a community meeting was not finalized, but the project will be on the agenda of the next BCO meeting, 7 p.m. Thursday at the North Community Bank.

Both Ald. O’Connor and representatives from the Bowmanville Community Organization were not immediately available for comment.