Aug 27, 2008 11:25 am US/Central
School Officials Push For First-Day Attendance
Officials Want Employers To Let Out Parents Whose Children Need To Get To School
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
The first day of classes for Chicago Public Schools is a mere six days away, and school officials want everyone to get involved – including parents.
As CBS 2's Mike Parker reports, although there are threats of a student boycott on the first day of school, institutions such as the Ogden Elementary School, at 24 W. Walton St., are hoping for better than a 90 percent turnout.
Chicago School Board President Rufus Williams and local business leaders are calling on employers to do whatever they can to help working parents to take their kids to school on opening day.
School officials are asking businesses to give their workers a little time off, to help students start the school year in school.
"The first day is critically important," Williams said. "The first day is when we start to set the stage of what takes place over the course of the school year."
Sarah Romano's 3-year-old son, Leo, starts preschool this year. She thinks businesses should cooperate.
"The more you can get parents involved – especially right from the beginning – so the teachers see the parents' faces and they know they're able to better relate to the family as a whole, I think the child will be more successful in school," Romano said.
Every first-day student in Chicago will receive a family pass to the Museum of Science and Industry, and 10,000 students will get free tickets to a Chicago Sky women's basketball game.
Sen. Rev. James Meeks orchestrated the boycott, in which participating students are to be bussed to New Trier High School in Winnetka and the lobbies of downtown office buildings to show the disparity in school funding between the well-to-do North Shore and impoverished communities in the city.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants Meeks to end the boycott, and debate about it has come with them to the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
But within the next week or so, Williams believes there will be some kind of compromise on school funding that will head off the boycott. In his words, "The dam will break and the money will flow."
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