Haugan Elementary School Seeks to Expand Once Again

Call it the revenge of the neighborhood public school.

Mayors Richard Daley and Rahm Emanuel did everything they could to destroy the city’s public neighborhood schools by promoting ‘school choice’ - where charter schools and selective enrollment schools would replace the ‘failing’ schools, forcing parents to zig zag all over the city to go to their school of ‘choice’ rather than just jump out of bed and head to their local neighborhood school down the street.

Nowhere was this insanity more visible than right in my Albany Park neighborhood when we covered the Haugan Elementary School saga. Haugan was grossly overcrowded back in 2005 so the city built a new $30 million middle school right around the corner. Except, what the community wanted was not what the business elites and political insiders wanted - a corrupt deal to line their pockets at the children’s expense.

Out of nowhere a corrupt charter operator named Aspira headed by a powerful city insider named Jose Rodriguez swooped in and against the wishes of the community turned the Haugan Middle School into the Aspira Charter Middle School. He didn’t have the backing of the people, but he had the backing of the politicians. The insanity of this decision was followed by scandal after incompetence after scandal. The middle school was so poorly run that a group of parents started a blog about all the problems that included no textbooks, constant turnover of administrators and teachers and ubiquitous gang recruitment. The Aspira debacle in Albany Park hit its peak when a federal lawsuit was filed against the charter school for strip searching its students - that scandal almost prevented former Chicago Public Schools CEO Arne Duncan from becoming President Barack Obama’s Education Secretary.

Aspira Jose Rodriguez

Fast forward to today - Aspira announced it is closing because they had only 80 students left in a building that can hold at least 600.

And Haugan Elementary School is once again overcrowded and they want that Haugan Aspira Middle School back where it belongs - as a neighborhood public school.

But not so fast, said a high brass CPS official who attended a Local School Board meeting last week on April 14, 2025 at Haugan.

Alfonso Carmona, CPS Chief Portfolio Officer, was dressed in his stylish pinstriped suit and spoke in both Spanish and English to address the nervous crowd of Haugan parents who want that building back. Carmona began 19 years ago as a bilingual teacher before he became the principal of Healy in 2010 after completing the New Leaders Aspiring Principals Program. He hails from Columbia, and served as the Chief of Network 10 and is now the CPS Chief Portfolio Officer.

Carmona said Haugan is a success story, that I would add has weathered the torrent of privatization and school choice that has helped empty many public school buildings around the city. He said it is lamentable that a nightmare was created in which many parents travel over an hour to attend a school the system tells them they should attend over their neighborhood school. He said also that Haugan has high enrollment, but according to CPS data, it is not yet ‘overcrowded.’

Haugan has 1,074 students (1,320 is considered overcrowded) as more and more parents spread the word that this is a great neighborhood school. It serves a mostly working class Mexican Latino community. There is a very small number of students who do not live in the district, 91 percent of the students live within the attendance boundary. Carmona said next year parents must apply online at GoCPS to attend a school outside their boundary. About 55 percent of families with children in the neighborhood chose Haugan. There are only 30 schools in CPS that are true neighborhood schools, according to Carmona.

“Haugan is one of the few schools in the district where students in the neighborhood attend,” Carmona said. “That means that this is a true neighborhood school. They want to go here.”

Carmona said Haugan is not considered overcrowded, but rather efficient. This of course could change should the enrollment continue to increase. To alleviate potential overcrowding at Haugan, he said the options are:

1. Transfer pre-k cluster to another school

2. Open more seats at North River (this small school is also located in the Aspira Haugan Middle School Building)

3. Transition North River (55 percent live in neighborhood) from city-wide school to attendance area school (neighborhood)

4. Co-locate Haugan with North River (but this has to follow state law guidelines for co-locations, consolidations, school closings, phase outs or boundary reassessments); the deadline is October 2 for the following year, but they would like to move in this summer. They also need an agreement between North River Elementary School and Haugan, but according to one source, North River has not returned Haugan’s calls.

The Haugan parents went to the mics at the LSC meeting to ask questions and express their wish to take back their middle school building. Parent Peggy Cushin, who has a 7th grader at the school, asked CPS to not ‘uproot the middle school students’ 6-8 grades because they have suffered instability during Covid and would prefer if the pre-k students go to Aspira building. But Carmona said it’s too late to move the cluster or pre-k programs, which requires a lot of time. Some parents said the GoCPS for pre-k was very confusing.

CPS Chief Portfolio Officer Alfonso Carmona

Two Haugan middle school students spoke and said they need more space, noting that Aspira students are transferring to Haugan. “Yes, it’s tight, but it’s not overcrowded,” Carmona responded, adding that students are traveling an average 9.5 miles to high school. Parents complained about overcrowded hallways, needing more space for a better learning environment.

One parent described a nightmare she had and asked to make sure it doesn’t happen again. She said she moved as a little girl to Albany Park and they said her neighborhood school Haugan was overcrowded so she was bused to McCutcheon Elementary School in Uptown. However, the next year she was told she had to navigate the Lawrence Bus and not talk to strangers. She then went to Arai Middle School. “We were bused only one year and then that ended,” she said, adding she then attended Roosevelt High School where she finally had stability.

“This affects not only our grades, but our confidence as well,” she said. “It’s sickening what happened. We shouldn’t have to go through this. (Haugan’s) a wonderful school. It has a great reputation and parents are telling other parents to go to this school. Your numbers here will keep going up. Please use the Aspira Middle School that should have gone to Haugan. This is the time to show equity.”

Carmona said they will work on a short term solution, but they need a long-term solution.

Niki Anderson, a parent of a 4th grader and a 5th grader at Haugan, said their school needs to be part of the conversation for co-location and was not two years ago when North River moved into the building. Carmona said he was not here when that happened and added, “We do what the community wants. Yes, it will be a different process this time.”

More parents spoke how much they love Haugan and want to see them expand to the Middle School Building originally built to relieve the overcrowded school. And they warned that the wrong decision can divide a united neighborhood.

Tiffany Harvey

Tiffany Harvey is a mother of four who bought her home in Albany Park 25 years ago and is a member of the Local School Council. She said her first three kids avoided Haugan in 2004 because the school had limited resources, Haugan was overcrowded and school choice told parents they should choose a better school outside their neighborhood. She noted that after Marshall Middle School was closed Roosevelt High School opened a 7th and 8th grade middle school inside the Aspira Charter School building. Her fourth child now attends Haugan.

“We need to stop the attack on neighborhood schools,” Harvey said. “We absolutely love Haugan. We do not have to rush in the morning to fight traffic and drive halfway around the city to get the kids to school. Our quality of life has improved. Our school is exceptional.”

She said that if the North River School and Haugan School are co-located in the Middle School Building, it could divide the community. Both schools service predominantly Hispanic children. The neighborhood is Mexican working class that is slowly community.

The Haugan community stated that they need to expand to the Middle School building immediately because they need more classrooms. The Portfolio Officer said they will continue to study the options and make a decision soon.