Mayor Emanuel, CPS Leaders Join Students, Parents, Teachers and Principals Across the City to Celebrate the Start of the Full School Day for All of Chicago’s Students

Mayor and CPS Leaders Visit Over 20 Schools In Neighborhoods Across the City

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/04/2012
Mayor’s Press Office, (312) 744-3334

CHICAGO – Mayor Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools (CPS) leaders today joined students, parents, teachers and principals at over twenty schools in neighborhoods across the city to celebrate the start of the full school day for all of Chicago’s students.

 

“Today marks a new beginning for Chicago Public Schools students. Our students now have a full school day and a full school year that measures up to their full potential. No longer are they saddled with the shortest school day and shortest school year of any major city in the country in the country,” said Mayor Emanuel. “Through hard work and cooperation and by putting the interests of our children first, teachers will no longer have to choose between reading and recess, algebra and athletics, science and social studies. On the first day of school, our students’ futures have come first.”

 

Now, Chicago Public Schools students will have a 7-hour day in elementary school and a 7 1/2-hour day in high school. CPS students will have a full year, moving from 170 days to a full 180 days. More rigorous academic standards are being introduced to prepare students for tougher new state tests in 2014; five new STEM-schools opened today that will focus on the areas of science, technology, engineering and math; and 5,000 new kindergarten slots are being created in the coming school year to give our children a running start. Additionally, parents are able to see their school’s report cards right on the CPS website at www.cps.edu.

 

This morning, Mayor Emanuel visited three schools: Shields Middle School in Brighton Park, Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy in Ashburn, one of the five new early college STEM High Schools, and UNO Charter Officer Donald J. Marquez campus, also in Brighton Park, where he shared with students the importance of what has been achieved for their peers across CPS schools.

 

CPS leaders visited twenty-one schools across the city, including:

  • Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy
  • Kennedy High School
  • Hamilton Elementary
  • Simpson Academy High School for Young Women
  • North Grand High School
  • Ross Elementary
  • Carter Elementary
  • Drake Elementary
  • Roberto Clemente Community High School
  • Chopin Elementary
  • Sabin Magnet Elementary
  • Senn High School
  • Bateman Elementary School
  • Lakeview High School
  • Gunsaulus Elementary
  • Kellogg Elementary
  • Roosevelt High School
  • Chicago Vocational Career Academy High School
  • Friedrich Ludwig Jahn Elementary School
  • LaSalle Language Academy
  • Galileo Elementary

 

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