CHICAGO (AP) — Around 100 students, teachers and
community activists are staging a sit-in at a struggling Chicago school to try
to block the city's intervention in turning around the school's poor
performance.
The protesters oppose the planned takeover of the school by a nonprofit academy because they say it would likely mean cuts to special education and bilingual programs.
They also say the city has not given them a chance to enact their own plan for reversing declining achievement at the Piccolo Elementary School on the city's West Side.
The sit-in began Friday evening. As of late Saturday morning, police say about 70 people remained camped outside and 15 others were holed up inside the school. Protesters are demanding a meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago School Board members.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
