RAVENSWOOD — The Chicago Board of Education voted in closed session Wednesday to approve the sales of three schools shuttered in 2013's mass closing.
The former home to Courtenay Language Arts Center, 1726 W. Berteau Ave., nabbed the highest price, purchased for $5.3 million by the German International School of Chicago.
The five members of the board in attendance also approved the sale of:
• The former Armstrong School, 5345 W. Congress Parkway and 5400 W. Harrison St., to Rivers of Living Water Ministries International for $250,000.
• The former Ward School at 410 N. Monticello Ave., to Turnstone Development Corp. for $10,000.
• The former Montefiore School at 1310 S. Ashland Ave., which was not part of the 2013 closings. Montefiore will be sold to Urban Prairie, a private Waldorf School currently in Little Italy, for $2.1 million.
According to the board, CPS has now reached agreements to sell a dozen of the 50 schools closed in 2013, for a total of just under $30 million.
Courtenay was among the handful of North Side schools shuttered in 2013. The school was merged with Stockton at 4420 N. Beacon St., but retained the Courtenay name.
"I don't know that everything has scabbed over," Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th) said of the merger, and the closings in general. "I think there are still some open wounds."
Pawar had repeatedly stated that a charter school was out of the question for the Courtenay site, as well as residential development.
"This is a good use, it is the appropriate use," the alderman said of the German School's acquisition.
"They're a key part of our community, they are good people, a lot of great families," he said.
The German International School was founded in 2007 and has operated out of 1447 W. Montrose Ave. The nonprofit provides an immersive dual-language education in English and German.
The school opened in September 2009 with 13 preschool students and has added grades every successive year, with the ultimate goal of providing a full pre-K through 12th grade experience. Current enrollment tops 100 students through grade seven.
The German school, which holds the annual Laternenfest in Lincoln Square, will join Lycee Francais, the French school, in the greater Ravenswood area.
School administrators were not immediately available for comment.
