Students, Parents Demonstrate Against CPS Plan To Move Back Start Time At More Than 80 Schools
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A few dozen students and parents demonstrated at Daley Plaza - upset with the Chicago Public Schools plan to change the start time this fall at more than 80 schools.
Most of the changes involve starting school an hour later, a switch from an 8 o'clock start to 9 o'clock.
David Levinson, the father of a junior at Jones College Prep, doesn't like the change.
"There's nothing that's right about this decision at all - other than maybe getting a little extra sleep in the morning. It's going to disrupt getting to school in the morning, getting home at night - making it difficult for extra-curricular activities.
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And one of the student leaders of the demonstration, 17-year-old Emily Gross, says that late end to the day could mean trouble.
"Chicago gets very, very dark at 4:30. And students who have an hour or an hour and a half commute home from their schools - when it's dark in neighborhoods that are not the best, that's not a very safe situation. I don't think CPS really recognized that."
CPS says it's changing the start time for 82 of the more than 600 public schools to save money by staggering bus routes.
