Nearly 40 years ago, the concept of charter schools was first introduced to encourage new and innovative ways of educating young people. Since then, charters have grown into a national movement serving 3.7 million students in nearly 8,000 schools in 46 states, plus D.C., Puerto Rico, and Guam. While public charter schools have seen tremendous growth, success, and public support since their founding, many misconceptions exist about charter schools.
Whether you are curious about public charters or a member of the CICS family, we have put this page together to share the facts behind some of the common misconceptions.
A New Teacher Thrives in the World of Remote Learning
No one said teaching would be easy, but Casie Walls could never have imagined that most of her first two years as a teacher at CICS Loomis-Longwood would be remote. She is a big believer that professional development and mentoring support helped her with teaching her first-grade students. As an educator, Ms. Walls uses every resource possible including the No Nonsense Nurturing toolkit, teacher collaboration and even her own model of joy to make students part of a successful learning environment. This is why Casie was named a LIT teacher! LIT stands for Live Innovative Teaching and Ms. Walls exemplifies those words.
Casie is very familiar with the Loomis-Longwood campus. She attended and graduated from Longwood high school. Her passion for teaching came while a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she earned her Master’s in Instructional Leadership. When she was a student teacher at Longfellow Elementary School in Oak Park, her mentor urged her to apply for multiple teaching positions. Casie’s first choice was Loomis Primary because she longed to give back to the community that gave so much to her. When Casie received the call that she had a position at Loomis, she recalled, “It’s a small world and it was a blessing!”
Her first year at Loomis started in the classroom and transitioned to remote learning in March 2020. Even during remote learning, Ms. Walls has been able to build nurturing relationships with her students. “I try to model my own joy with my voice and my body in the virtual classroom which is easy when you see twentyone faces smiling at you! I start the day with an attention getter and when everybody is looking straight ahead into the screen, at that moment I have them.”
No Nonsense Nurturing in Practice
Ms. Walls understands the power of the No Nonsense Nurturing (NNN) Model. She uses positive narration to ensure that her students know she has high expectations for their learning. “My students know what I expect, and they know what they should be doing because I make sure to lead with precise directions and check for their understanding. I then use three praises such as Lisa has turned to page 4, Danielle has also turned to page 4 and Michael is looking at page 4. This positive narration lets them know what they are supposed to be doing such as being on page 4.” Her students learn from watching their classmates and the peers, as well as observing what she is doing online. “I will ask them to show me that they have paper and pencils. I will check for understanding. I will ask, “Who can tell me what I should have now? When I say go, hold up your paper and pencil.”
The NNN process strives to engage scholars by continually learning about them and relating their cultural backgrounds and experiences to classroom learning. In order to make the learning culturally relevant, Ms. Walls will add an example from her own life. “This is especially true when we are doing math. I engage with them and tell them how the problem relates to me. I try to find connections to their family life.” She recognizes that her students are young and so many things charge them emotionally, so she always stays grounded and connected when working with them. “I remind them that I was once in first grade. I reassure them with positive affirmations about how amazing they are and how smart they are. I try to create a safe space and assure them that they belong here. I may ask a question or have them write how they feel today, or if you were a teacher, what subject would you teach? They get so excited when they answer those questions.”
Even though the majority of her kids want to be back in the classroom, the health of her students and families comes first. Remote learning has helped her become much more tech savvy and organized. She has seen the power that using visuals to illustrate a problem has had for many of her students. She will take these new skills back when teachers and students return to the classroom. For Casie, she will always bring the joy of learning to all of her students, whether in person or remote.
Casie Walls is a second year 1st grade teacher at CICS Loomis Primary. Casie earned her Master’s in Journalism from Roosevelt University and a second Master’s in Instructional Leadership Masters in Instructional Leadership from University of Illinois at Chicago. Prior to working at CICS Loomis, Ms. Walls worked for 8 years at Chicago Public Schools as a paraprofessional/Special Education Classroom Assistant. Casie Wells aspires to grow into a leadership role in the education sector.
JoeAnn Nash’s career as an educator started at Loomis-Longwood and she has not looked back since. She started teaching second grade students at Loomis-Longwood in 2010 and then returned in 2018 as an instructional coach for second and third grade teachers. Just before the pandemic hit, JoeAnn returned to her current role as the Loomis K-5 Director of Instruction in July of 2020. “In my new role, I was worried that I would be a distraction when I popped into a room because many of the kids remembered me, but it was wonderful to be greeted by them.” Her return during remote learning reinforced a sense of normalcy and continuity for students and teachers. JoeAnn's educational. journey is one of hope and inspiration during this pandemic.
March 13, 2020
Dear CICS Families:
I want to thank each of you for your attention to the developing situation regarding COVID-19, or coronavirus, in Chicago and nationally. As of now, we are not aware of any confirmed cases of or concerning exposure to COVID-19 at any of our campuses. I want to assure you that CICS is closely monitoring the situation and working with CPS and local public health officials to offer guidance to our staff, students and families. As always, the health and safety of our students and teammates are our highest priorities.
Over the last week, CICS has put together a COVID-19 Response Team to stay up-to-date on the latest local developments and recommendations from CPS, the Chicago Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control, as well as to field questions from our staff and families and develop and communicate guidance as CICS responds to the evolving COVID-19 situation. While it is our hope that our schools will remain open and operating on their regular schedules in the weeks and months ahead, we are also working on contingency plans for remote learning and for access to the school food program in the event of a prolonged closure. Please complete this two-minute survey so that we can properly prepare for support should we need to close one or more campuses.
We’re also taking reasonable precautions to limit the exposure to and prevent the spread of COVID-19 within our schools and the surrounding communities. While we are still permitting local travel within the Chicago city limits, we have made the difficult decision to cancel or postpone all staff and student non-local domestic and international travel on behalf of CICS from now through April 10, 2020, the last day of Spring Break. This includes CICS-sponsored and coordinated student spring break trips and college tours. We recognize how disappointing this decision may be, especially for trips that our students have been anticipating for some time, but this month-long pause will allow us to focus on limiting potential exposure and managing risks, while we monitor the latest developments.
We will also be canceling or postponing student gatherings and events outside of the regular school day. After-school programs will continue at our campuses as scheduled. Cancelled or postponed events may include concerts, parent events and dances, and your school director will follow up with more details about plans for scheduled events.
Please remember to continue practicing reasonable precautionary measuresto keep yourself healthy and prevent the spread of the virus, which include regularly disinfecting frequently touched objects, frequently washing your hands, avoiding touching your eyes, nose and mouth, and staying home if you are feeling ill or exhibiting symptoms such as fever, coughing and/or shortness of breath. If you are known to have come into contact with someone who has COVID-19, or if you have any other concerns of exposure in general or at the campus, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and your school director immediately.
For the most reliable and up-to-date information, please visit www.chicago.gov/coronavirus or www.cdc.gov/coronavirus. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the CDPH Coronavirus hotline at 312-746-4835 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You may also reach out to the CICS’ COVID-19 response team line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or CICS Main Office by phone at 312-651-5000.
While the current situation is concerning, there is quite a bit that we can do to limit exposure to and prevent the spread of the virus. I assure you that our team is continuing to follow the latest developments and we will continue to update our families as the situation evolves. Thank you for your continued trust in CICS and for allowing us to continue to be a resource for you and your family.
Warmly,
Elizabeth Shaw
CEO
Chicago International Charter Schools
FAMILY UPDATE: CICS RESPONSE TO COVID-19
Previous Piece (June 2021)
In June, I wrote a Voices Blog piece to share more with our community about how we make our budgetary decisions at CICS and what the incoming federal relief dollars might mean for how we support our schools, teachers, and students this school year.
Now, a few months into this school year, I have the pleasure of being able to follow up on my piece and share more about our priorities, our spending, and most importantly, the impact we hope to see from this landmark investment in our schools.
Overall, CICS received funds from three federal relief bills passed in 2020 and 2021: the CARES Act in April 2020; the Coronavirus Relief Bill in December 2020; and the American Rescue Plan Act in March 2021. The most recent of these relief packages, the American Rescue Plan Act, resulted in an influx of approximately $7.7 million to invest across all 13 CICS campuses. While each SMO and schools had the autonomy to spend their dollars as they deemed necessary, I know we were all united around the common priorities and values that drive decision-making across our network.
To ensure every student in the CICS community can flourish, we had to ask ourselves some important questions before allocating these dollars. How do we get our kids back into schools safely on a full-time basis? Once they’re there, how do we keep kids and teammates safe in our schools without taking away dollars from instruction? And, perhaps most importantly, how do we use funds to equally prioritize both social-emotional health and academic recovery?
The answers to these questions are what ultimately drove our spending decisions. I am eager to share some of the big ways we invested our dollars:
- New Personnel: An immediate and concrete way to better support our teachers and students was to hire additional personnel who are aligned to the priorities we set. We wanted to make it easier to keep students safe and healthy, so we created new or additional positions like in-house substitutes, additional school nurses, and temporary support staff to help with arrivals, contact tracing, and managing our care rooms. We also added staff to better support learning, especially in this new context, such as technology leads and Virtual Academy instructors. More hands on deck, especially when they are the right hands, can make immeasurable differences in student learning and teacher sustainability.
- Technology & Innovation: As COVID-19 continues to influence the way we teach and the way students learn, it’s important that we continue investing dollars to help us adjust to this evolving reality. This means investments in maintaining our one-to-one student laptop ratio, investing in software and platforms to improve parent communication, and putting dedicated resources behind our Virtual Academies to support remote and quarantined learners. At CICS, we pride ourselves on our ability to innovate in the name of supporting excellent instruction and equitable learning. Leveraging dollars to support this aim is a natural use of these increased funds.
- Staff Development & Resources: Meeting students’ academic and social-emotional needs, even in the midst of continued change, will always be a top priority across CICS. Allocating dollars towards this aim was a critical way we invested in our students’ futures. Whether that investment was in continued support and resources for trusted programs like Multi-tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) or in introducing new concepts and tools to educators through additional professional development, we know that schools made decisions to put dollars towards ensuring staff can holistically support and nurture all students to learn and grow.
The above priorities certainly don’t fully encompass all the ways that we have leveraged this $7.7 million in additional dollars for our students. However, I hope they have given you a window into how we translate these priorities into concrete expenditures. And, perhaps more importantly, I hope they give you insight into the kinds of impact we hope to see in the months and years ahead.
If we invest in the tools and resources to keep our communities safe, we can mitigate dangerous exposures before they start and instead focus on rebuilding our communities and supporting learning. If every student has a laptop and access to both in-person and virtual instruction, we know learning can continue despite any obstacles. If we acknowledge the challenges facing our schools in terms of staffing and capacity, and innovate around personnel accordingly, we can help provide some much needed relief. And if we are constantly learning about and investing in our students’ needs – both academic and social-emotional – then we know we can set them on a path towards seizing the kinds of successful futures they each deserve.
As I mentioned in June, an organization’s budget and spending tells the story of what matters to them. I hope in communicating a little more about how CICS has spent these precious federal relief dollars, you now have better insight into the concrete ways we are prioritizing our schools, teachers, and students during this landmark school year.
In December, CICS Longwood’s first cohort of scholars completed an on-campus phlebotomy certificate program, which taught them the techniques, procedures, and safety precautions of drawing blood for diagnostic testing.
