Chicago Public Schools begins move to extend school day

Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah:

Chicago Public Schools today launched their plans to extend students' time in the classroom by 90 minutes each and by two weeks each year and set up an advisory committee to figure out how it'll be done.

However, Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said she would decline an invitation to serve on the committee, saying in a written statement that, "this news has nothing do with helping our children and everything to do with politicizing a real serious problem."

Mayor Rahm Emanuel began pushing for a longer school day while he was on the campaign trail, saying Chicago's school day is the shortest in the nation when compared to public school systems in nine other large cities. School reform legislation passed in June allows the district to implement a longer school day in the fall of 2012 with or without the union's agreement, and CPS officials have said they would do that.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 24, 2011 2:51 AM
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