Petition updateSave the Old Town School of Folk MusicThree months later: Some good news about the Old Town School!
Students of Old Town School
Jan 23, 2019

Three months ago today, after the Old Town School announced plans to sell its historic home at 909 W. Armitage in Lincoln Park, our petition was launched as a rallying point for people concerned about 909 and about the state of the School.  We thank you -- and all of the more than 12,000 signers -- for joining us in communicating the community’s concerns to the School’s administration and board of directors.  

Today we can report that there’s been a lot of progress, and we’re feeling a sense of optimism about the future of the School.  These are the key developments that are fueling our positive outlook:

  • The board of directors is listening.  Delegations from Save Old Town School have appeared three times before the board, and board members have told us that we’ve made a compelling case.  Our representatives have also held two working meetings with School leaders.
  • The board has put the sale of 909 W. Armitage on hold until at least the end of March -- and has created a “working group” to re-examine the sale and consider alternatives.
  • Two other working groups have also been created: one focusing on boosting student enrollment and another improving School communications.  All three groups are chaired by board members and include students, faculty and staff.
  • Bau Graves, the School’s executive director since 2007, announced his retirement Jan. 3. Rashida Phillips, the School’s deputy director, will serve as interim executive director while the board searches for Graves’ successor.
  • The School’s teachers, under the umbrella of the Old Town Teachers Organization, voted Jan. 16 to unionize as an affiliate of the Illinois Federation of Teachers.  
  • After agreeing to a joint statement with the School on Dec. 17, Save Old Town School members actively promoted enrollment for the first class session of 2019.  These efforts -- in person and via social media -- generated more than 300 class registrations, including at least 28 first-time students. (Accompanying this update is a screenshot of the way we presented the enrollment campaign on our website at https://saveoldtownschool.org.) According to the School, adult class enrollment for Session 1 is ahead of last year’s.

Whatever happens, it seems clear that the Old Town School has arrived at a turning point. For one thing, there will be a new executive director for the first time since 2007.  The new union will enable our teachers, we expect, to have more of a voice in how the school is operated, which we think will be very helpful. Beyond that, we are counting on the three working groups to find new approaches to address the key issues we highlighted in our petition.

The “909 Alternatives” group has been asked to consider all options for the future of the building and make a recommendation in time for the board’s March 16 meeting.   Selling the building remains a possibility, to be sure -- but we think the board of directors now clearly understands how important the building is to many of the school’s stakeholders.

The enrollment group has begun examining the School’s seven-year-long decline in class registrations.  It’s charged with coming up with new enrollment initiatives starting with Session 2, which begins March 3.  The group’s work is critical to the future of the School because the decline in enrollment underlies many of the decisions -- rising class prices, cost-cutting initiatives and the sale of 909 -- that we questioned in our petition.

And the communications group, we hope, will find ways to open up communications between the School and its stakeholders, especially students and teachers.  We’ve specifically recommended the creation of a student advisory board.

Last week, we were heartened to see that Kish Khemani, the chairman of the board, had responded to more than 200 people who’d written letters and emails to the School after the 909 sale announcement.

In the letter, Khemani said that in hiring a new executive director, “addressing issues you have raised will be very much a part of our thinking.”  He also said, “The Board is looking for better ways to ensure student voices and concerns are an integral part of the on-going discussions of the current and future well-being of the school.”

Meanwhile, Save Old Town School is in the process of launching several committees to contribute to the changes happening at the School.  We expect our committees will help gather information and input for the enrollment and communications working groups -- and will also tackle other issues that aren’t on the working groups’ short-term agendas.

We’ll continue to post updates here periodically -- but if you want to be sure to keep up with the latest news, we recommend you do one or more of the following:

Thank you again for your support.

 

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