Chris Barbic, the superintendent of the Achievement District, said that initially Cornerstone’s leaders were “so focused on getting the academic and school part right that they had blinders on to the fact that there was a whole community there that didn’t know who they were.”

LaTonya Hunt said her 10-year-old daughter was terrified to start at Cornerstone this school year because of all the community strife. “My baby was so nervous,” she said. “She kept saying, ‘I don’t want to go to Cornerstone. I don’t want to go to Cornerstone.’” Meanwhile, Hunt struggled to determine how much of the pushback came from parents with students at the school as opposed to neighborhood residents with little first-hand knowledge of what went on inside the walls.

She decided to give Cornerstone a chance, telling the principal, “As soon as I notice her grades dropping or that something is not right, then I move her.”

Drew Sippel, Cornerstone’s executive director, said the school struggled to win buy-in from some students and parents during its first year at least partly because of the unusual way in which charters operate in the Achievement District. In many cities, parents select charters based on an interest in their educational approach or past results. But the charters that open in the Achievement District inherit the students from the neighborhood schools they replace.

Sippel and his colleagues have made changes to ingratiate themselves with parents and the broader community, including honoring residents’ attachment to the neighborhood school, Lester, that they displaced. School leaders changed Lester’s name to Cornerstone when they took over the elementary school in 2012, but when they absorb the middle school next year its name will remain Lester and the colors will also stay the same. The Achievement District as a whole has also created a volunteer advisory council partly in an effort to bolster its relationship with the communities it serves.

“It’s a long process to build relationships and trust,” said Sippel. He said the school has won over some parents but still has work to do with others. “Ask me in five years if we’re a trusted institution in the community.”

So far, Hunt said she’s happy she gave Cornerstone a try. My daughter “loves it because the teachers are not just throwing work at them, and they have one-on-one help,” she said. Many neighborhood residents “were looking at these white people coming into the neighborhood and taking over ... They weren’t looking at whether it was good for kids.”

But she’s glad they are keeping the Lester name at the middle school. If Cornerstone can find a way to continue its strong academics while respecting community traditions, she believes that parents and neighborhood residents will embrace it over time. “I loved Lester,” she said. “I went there. My kids went there.”