Emanuel Pushes Case For Longer School Day
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel drove home his point that the school day needs to be longer during a town hall-style meeting with Chicago Public School students today at Malcolm X College.
Emanuel talked with the students about putting principals and teachers under the microscope--evaluating and grading them on performance.
And every chance he got, he talked up a longer school day.
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"We have the shortest school day of any major city in the country," he said.
As kids asked him questions, he asked them how long they were in school each day. One student said she started at 8 a.m. and was done with class at 1:45 p.m.
He suggested that an 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. school day makes more sense.
"Eight thirty til four o'clock," he said. "That's a good day man.
"Somebody has a longer school day and is safer and is learning more."
He also talked about creative use of technology, like video lectures and tutorials via Skype, in the classroom.
