Aspira Charter Schools

Aspira inc of IL. is a charter school that has many problems with its faculty and students.The faculty members are always offering extra help and never seem to follow thru on those promises.The school seems to turn a blind eye to the violence it has occuring in its schools especially Aspira Early College Prep.Alot of the students are gang related and some of the faculty were gang related in there early years aswell.The city would be better off closing these schools and using those funds to upgrade the existing schools that could use those funds properly in the education of good students willing to learn.I was very dissapointed that i transfered my straight A student into there school system expecting a real college prep enviornment and the experience is anything but.I am glad the school year is almost over so i can transfer my child out of this disfunctional school.
—Submitted by a parent

ASPIRA Inc. of IL is a terribly run organization, whose high schools are failing and making no progress. They do not offer any advanced courses, so students cannot receive an appropriate level of instruction; fast kids are constantly bored, and slower kids can't keep up. ASPIRA schools also allow students who fail all of there classes to move on with the next year's classes, which creates many problems in the classroom. ASPIRA does not even provide books for most classes! Over 50% of teachers leave each year from AEC and Mirta! ASPIRA Early College High School currently has a principal with no experience working at the high school level, and little experience with the American education system. Yolanda Mijangos spent many years teaching elementary levels in Mexico, and then found her way into the ASPIRA organization, where she was pushed up as an assistant principal of Haugan Middle School. One year later, she became the principal of AEC, after the CEO, Jose Rodriguez, fired the only capable principal ASPIRA has ever had. These schools will remain dysfunctional until real principals are put into place, proper resources are provided, and experienced teachers are retained.
—Submitted by a parent

School is horrible! i went there for about 3 weeks and everything was very disorganized. i did not understand anything that was going on and that in the school i transfered from i was in ap and in honors classes bein a sophmore. but i know that some teachers did try to teach but the students made it really hard to progress and move on to a next lesson. the only good thing about the school being runned by latinos is that they do really care about the students. because thats how we are with each other. i think if it gets alot of help in the education area it would be a great school because the teachers did care and the administration. no fights at all, not even arguements. but school is all about education and since it lacked very badly in it. it is not a good school.
—Submitted by a student

Mirta Ramirez HS is currently sharing space with a public grammar school after their old location was shut down by the fire dept. The students are constantly harassed by the security guards. The school offers no AP classes so students are not prepared to attend college. Parents offer to volunteer but are never contacted by the Aspira organization that runs the school. All of the good teachers left this year due to zero support from the Aspira administration. Only nieghborhood children attend this school because their parents believe the false promises of Aspira. Most of the students that attend are low income minority kids who desperately need a good education.
—Submitted by a parent

Mirta Ramirez High School has been a nightmare back and forth. If it's not for it's great teachers, this school will have gone straight to the bottom. This school does not offer gym classes, and as we students need 2 credits of gym, they pile up two so called gym/health classes which does not help at all with the students being active in any sort. We don't have an actual gym teacher; we are thought by a former computer teacher. Um!! there's no comparison at all from gym to computers, so we don't experience the real thrill of having gym classes. But at the other hand, we do have a handfull of great teachers and advicers that care more about its students than the 'school' itself. Students are rarely informed of what's really going on with the school. No help nor support from principal for seniors. Sad I Know...
—Submitted by a student

Mirta Ramirez School offers no honors classes or after school activities. Teachers leave mid year with no warning or explanation to students or parents. Students use old computers and have no internet access. The Aspira Organization boasts that their schools have PTO's & after school activities for students & workshops for parents all of which is false. The students & parents set up a PTO last year but there has been zero support from Aspira. We had a great principal, asst principal and senior counselor who were all fired in June. Two teachers quit at the beginning of the year and they have yet to be replaced. The students are the ones who are suffering through all this turmoil. Parents are trying to support the school but this is impossible when Aspira will not listen to the students, teachers or parents.
—Submitted by a parent

School doesn't offer gym, music or art. Need to improve quality of teachers and classes offered. Students deserve a school building they can be proud of. Principal needs to recruit and keep teachers who will not leave during the first month of school. Children who are smart are not challenged and students who need extra help do not get it. Unfortunately, the parents do not participate as they should. Those who offer to help are never encouraged to do so.
—Submitted by a parent