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UNO Charter Network Rebrands As Acero Schools, Asks To Rename 5 Campuses

By Linze Rice | August 24, 2017 5:58am | Updated on August 25, 2017 11:42am
 Acero Charter School Network wants to rename its Rogers Park campus after  Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Spanish nun and education advocate in the late 1600s.
Acero Charter School Network wants to rename its Rogers Park campus after Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Spanish nun and education advocate in the late 1600s.
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DNAinfo/Benjamin Woodard

ROGERS PARK — Five Chicago schools formerly part of the UNO Charter Schools Network could be re-named for the upcoming school year.

The name changes are part of UNO's rebrand into Acero Charter School Network (or Acero Schools) and come as a request to the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education, which will vote on the issue during a board meeting Monday.

Board members also will vote on UNO's request to acknowledge Acero as the network's new operator, a transition that already has begun on UNO's end.

Among locations up for name change consideration:

Rogers Park: From "UNO Charter School Network Rogers Park" to "UNO Charter School Network Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz K-12 Charter School." Cruz was a Spanish nun, writer, philosopher and advocate for education in the late 1600s. 

Gage Park: From "UNO Charter School Network Soccer Academy Elementary School" to "UNO Charter School Network Jovita Idár Elementary Charter School."

Gage Park: From "UNO Charter School Network Soccer Academy High School" to "UNO Charter School Network Victoria Soto Charter High School."

Brighton Park: From "UNO Charter School - 15" to "UNO Charter School – Brighton Park." 

Near West Side: From "UNO Charter School – Near West Elementary Campus" to "UNO Charter School – Roberto Clemente Campus."

On Aug. 14, UNO's switch to Acero, which means "steel" in Spanish, became official, according to a statement on its website. 

The name "evokes strength [and] resilience" and "honors the network’s roots within the Latino community," according to the network. 

“A new name enables us to embrace the growth and evolution of our organization, dispel any confusion over former affiliations and provides the foundation for our individual schools to continue to thrive,” Chief Operating Officer Richard Rodriguez said in a statement online about the name change.

In 2015, the City Council's Latino caucus called for Rodriguez' resignation as head of the charter network after a city inspector found the network wasn't providing adequate instruction to students whose native language was not English. The network largely caters to Hispanic students.

At the time, CPS was considering revoking the charter. 

Now, Rodriquez said it's "time to forge our own identity."

Under the Acero Charter Schools Network are 12 elementary schools, two high schools, and a  kindergarten through 12th-grade campus in Rogers Park, which provides education to about 7,500 students. 

On Monday, the city's Board of Education will vote on the individual campus name changes and on whether to recognize Acero as the operator. 

The board also will vote on an expansion at Chicago Math and Science Academy, a charter school in Rogers Park that asked to increase its high school capacity by 100 seats over the next four years.