Parents challenge corporate takeover of Chicago public schools
Chicago Occupation Challenges Corporate School Agenda
by Howard Ryan
February 22, 2012
Parents raised the stakes in the ongoing battle over school closings and the corporate takeover of education when they occupied a classroom inside a Chicago elementary school Friday night.
Brian Piccolo Elementary School, serving 550 black and Latino students in grades pre-K through 8 on the citys west side, has been targeted for turnaround by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his appointed school board.
The plan includes firing all the stafffrom principal to lunchroom workersand reopening the school under control of a private contractor, Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). The 13 occupying parents and allies, who held the site for nearly 24 hours, didnt win a reversal of the turnaround.
Piccolo is one of 17 Chicago schools targeted this year for turnaround, closure, or phase-out. The schools occupation came amid a wider community and union fight against the citys school privatization program. So far, two months of marches, rallies, school board presentations, and a five-day sit-in at city hall havent turned back the mayors plans.
Read the full article at:
http://labornotes.org/2012/02/chicago-occupation-challenges-corporate-school-agenda