Mayor Emanuel and School Leaders Join Students, Teachers, Principals and Parents to Kick-Off the First School Day for Chicago's Schools

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CHICAGO – Today, Mayor Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) leadership visited 19 schools across Chicago to join students, teachers, principals and parents in kicking-off the first full school day and full year for Chicago’s schools. 

“It’s a new year for students across Chicago, because now they have a full day and full year of school that matches up to their full potential,” said Mayor Emanuel. “We have great teachers and great kids in this city, and they will now be operating in a system and a school day that works for them.”

Mayor Emanuel greeted students at Jacob Bielder Elementary School after the school’s Principal, Johnson, discussed what students at Bielder will be getting with the full school day: each student will have 45 minutes of specialized reading time at the end of the day; every student will have one more hour each week to participate in a new writing lab, where they will have specialized support from teachers; and recess will be restructured, so that students can participate in intramural sports or in book clubs and reading clubs.

Mayor Emanuel also joined students, teachers, parents and the principal at Piccolo School of Excellence, one of the newest AUSL “turnaround” schools. In addition to these, additional schools across the city saw CPS leadership join them in ringing in the school year this morning for Track E schools. These included:

• Lindblom High School, which CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard visited;
• Bond Elementary, which CPS CEO Brizard also visited;
• Kohn Elementary, which CPS Board President David Vitale visited;
• Lavizzo Elementary, which CPS Board President  Vitale also visited;
• Walsh Elementary, which CPS Board Vice President Jesse Ruiz visited;
• Lowell Elementary, which CPS Board member Rod Sierra visited;
• Hoyne Elementary, which CPS Board member Dr. Mahalia Hines visited;
• Fenger High School, which CPS Board member Andrea Zopp visited;
• Lloyd Elementary, which CPS officials visited;
• Robeson High School, which CPS officials visited;
• King Elementary, which CPS officials visited;
• Woodson Elementary, which CPS officials visited;
• Nobel Elementary, which CPS officials visited;
• Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences, which CPS officials visited;
• Ryerson Elementary, which CPS officials visited.

This year, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Early Start Schools (Track E) begin on Monday, August 13th, and CPS Regular Start Schools (Track R) begin on Tuesday, September 4th. With the full school day starting this school year, CPS Track E and Track R elementary school students will have a seven-hour day and CPS Track E and Track R high school students will be in school for seven-and-a-half hours.

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