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A FEW CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FAMILY

MEMBERS ARE REDEFINING THE ROLE OF ACTIVE

PARTICIPANTS IN THEIR CHILD’S EDUCATION

by Hilary Masell Oswald photos by Joshua Dunn

atightKnitFamily

Adrienne Leonard is not surprised that parents flock to these jobs. Once a mission-ary in Kenya, where she helped build an HIV and AIDS clinic,

Ms. Leonard is now a community liaison for Chicago International, working closely with parents across CICS campuses.

She educates parents about how to evaluate their children’s schools, trouble-shoots problems, gets to know the people in com-munities where Chicago International leaders would like to open schools and advocates for school choice.

“We are not perfect,” she says, “but we have a very parent- and community-friendly environment. If there are problems, all of our parents know that someone will help solve them.”

Ms. Leonard knows first-hand how Chicago International leaders respond to parents and community members who have concerns. The first time she met Chicago International Executive Director Beth Purvis, Ms. Leonard joined other parents—she is the guardian of her two nieces—at a particularly contentious meeting about the Basil campus. Dr. Purvis announced that the director of the campus, who was very popular, would not be invited back for the next school year because the school was not performing as well as it should have been.

“Adrienne said to me, ‘We’ve had a lot of people come to this neighborhood and make a lot of promises to us. Why should we believe you?’” Dr. Purvis remembers. “Then she said, ‘I’m writing down all of the promises you make and we’ll see if you keep your word.’”

During her son Logan’s kindergarten year, Marisol Duerr, a receptionist in a doctor’s office, had a parent’s ideal job: “My work day started whenever I got there. I could leave if my son got sick or if he had an early-release day,” she says. “It was very, very flexible.”

But after Logan’s first year at CICS Irving Park, his mother found out about a job opening at Chicago International’s main office, and she couldn’t resist applying.

“It’s downtown, and I really didn’t want to drive downtown,” she laughs. “And I had to trade in all of that flexibility for a stricter schedule. But I’m interested in anything that has to do with my children. I believe in charter schools, and I believe in what we do. If I could be a bigger part of it, I wanted to be.”

So shortly after Logan’s kinder-garten year ended, Mrs. Duerr became Chicago International’s office manager—a job she says she “absolutely loves.”

Mrs. Duerr is hardly alone. At least two dozen Chicago International parents or other relatives are now employed by Chicago International—across campuses, in classrooms and administrative offices, and at CICS headquarters. As they witness their children’s growth and learning, these parents say they’re drawn to opportunities to work for an organization that serves their kids so well.

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BELOW: MARISOL DUERR, LOGAN DUERR AND LILY DUERR

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During the next few years, Ms. Leonard watched as Chicago International delivered on its promises; she became a great advocate for CICS—and eventually, an employee.

Now Ms. Leonard is on a mission to educate parents about school choice. Once parents see firsthand how charter schools are changing urban education, she says, they get involved—sometimes as volunteers, sometimes as informal advocates and sometimes as employees.

“If each of us teaches one more person every day [about choice], we’re going to see real change in our city,” she says. “And I have great respect for the parents who make this mission their professional work.”

Lynda Williams* understands how attractive the possibility for change can be. Now the regional manager of Southside campuses for American Quality Schools (one of Chicago International’s partner Education Management Organizations), she began her career as a Chicago Public School (CPS) teacher.

But at the time, the constant strikes by teachers frustrated her, so she moved to the parochial school system, where she taught for 10 years. “That was when I read about the charter school movement, and I thought, ‘It’s the best of both worlds,’” Ms. Williams says. “It’s public education, but there’s something unique about it because teachers have more autonomy.” Ten years later,

Ms. Williams is more passionate than ever about the power of charter schools—not just because she works for Chicago International, but also because her two nieces have attended CICS campuses for as long as she has been an employee.

“My nieces like the fact that the schools are small enough that they are known,” she says. “They feel safe. Their teachers know them, and they’re challenged. It’s a perfect fit. And when I see how excellent their experience is, I’m even more motivated to do my work.”

But being a parent or guardian and a Chicago International employee isn’t without its challenges. Consider the teaching assistant whose son came up on expulsion charges at another campus; she tried to persuade her supervisor to intervene with the campus director to give her son another chance.

“She was doing what most parents would do,” Dr. Purvis says. “But you can see how such things could get very complicated, very quickly.”

Mrs. Duerr agrees. When she attended the back-to-school picnic this year at CICS Irving Park, she went as a parent volunteer—not as a Chicago International employee. Someone tracked her down and handed her a cell phone. “It was a parent who was trying to get her son into the school,” she says. “The person who handed me the phone was the grandmother; the mother had sent her to the picnic to find me.” It’s not always easy to separate her roles, she adds. “I always want to help, but sometimes, I just need to be Lily and Logan’s mom.”

Joyce Rufus understands how working for Chicago International sometimes means giving up time with her own child to serve other families.

The manager of the book-store at CICS Longwood, Ms. Rufus says she “never in a million years” would have imagined herself working at her daughter Jayla’s school.

But in 2000, when Jayla was a kindergartener, the law firm where Ms. Rufus worked closed, and she found herself with time to volunteer. First, she served on the parent patrol, helping students get in and out of school safely. Then she joined the PTA—and then the PTA’s executive board.

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Two years ago, when the school needed someone to oversee the bookstore, school leaders looked to Ms. Rufus, who accepted the job. Ever since, she has gotten a close look at how CICS Longwood works—and gotten to know all 1,500 students, who call her “Mama Rufus.”

Ms. Rufus now spends her days in the same building where she once attended high school—The Academy of Our Lady—before the Catholic Church sold the building. She had always planned to send her daughter to parochial school; like Mrs. Duerr and Ms. Leonard, Ms. Rufus had to do some research before she believed that charter schools really could provide a positive alternative to traditional public schools. But now that she’s seen how CICS Longwood works, she takes great pride in being a part of its community.

And will she stick around after her daughter graduates and moves on to high school? “Of course,” she says. “I still have another 1,500 kids to take care of.”

*Shortly before this issue went to press, Lynda Williams accepted a position with CPS serving as Chief Area Officer of 32 elementary schools and reporting directly to Ron Huberman, Chief Executive Officer, and Dr. Barbara Eason-Watkins, Chief Education Officer. “This was an amazing opportunity for me,” she says. “Had it not been such a perfect role, I would have happily continued my work with CICS. My 10 years here have been exceptional and have prepared me fully for the challenges I will face in my new position.”

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OPPOSING PAGE: ADRIENNE LEONARDTOP RIGHT: LYNDA WILLIAMSBOTTOM RIGHT: JOYCE RUFUS AND JAYLA RUFUS

Employment OpportunitiesIf you are interested in employment at Chicago International, one of the Education Management Organizations we partner with, or a specific campus, please visit our website for current openings or positions.http://chicagointl.org/careers