When Christopher House’s second application for a charter school in the Belmont Cragin community was approved at the end of last year, they were met by protesters in the community against the idea of the school scheduled to open in 2013.

“Chicago Public Schools continues to open charter schools throughout the city to offer families educational choice,” said Christopher House CEO Lori Baas. “Giving Christopher House an opportunity to provide a charter school that gives families another option for education for their children is a great honor for us and is definitely part of our mission.”

Belmont Cragin is an area which lacks resources for early childhood education. According to an IFF Public Policy and Research report released in August, the community is the second highest need in the city for early childhood education. It ranks fourth in the state.

The protest against the charter school adds to the debate about whether or not the increase in charter schools is a good thing for communities like Belmont Cragin. When CPS listed schools to be closed in the upcoming year, protesters pointed out failing charter schools missing from the list.

Baas said the Christopher House charter school is working hard to make sure they are not one of them.

“Through our school design we have student assessments where we will monitor each child’s progress constantly,” she said. “Right now at the Christopher House we have a strong dedication to education. Ninety-two percent of our 5-year-olds were ready for kindergarten last year and 100 percent of our seniors got into a four year college. We are already using many different data points to create programming and measure our impact.”

According to Baas, Christopher House first directed their efforts to the community ...