CHICAGO – This morning Mayor Emanuel shared high-fives and gave thumbs-up to hundreds of students in grades K-8 at the United Neighborhood Organization’s (UNO) Octavio Paz Charter School. Students and parents released balloons and Mayor Emanuel rang the school bell to signal the start of the first day of school for the UNO Charter School Network. 

“Our children deserve the full education that will help them succeed,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “I’m happy to be here today to ring in the first day of school, because being in school on day one, whether at a charter, neighborhood school, magnet, or other academy, is a crucial piece to continued success throughout the school year.”

Last week, Mayor Emanuel joined students, parents, teachers and community leaders to celebrate the first day of school at LEARN Hunter Perkins Campus, part of the LEARN Charter School network.

Parents are encouraged to check with their school and visit www.cps.edu/firstday to be sure they know the correct start date for their child’s school. Parents can also call the back to school hotline at 773.553.3CPS (3277) or contact their school directly to confirm start dates.

This year, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Early Start Schools (Track E) begin on Monday, August 13th, and CPS Regular Start Schools (Track R) begin on Tuesday, September 4^th. With the full school day starting this school year, CPS Track E and Track R elementary school students will have a seven-hour day and CPS Track E and Track R high school students will be in school for seven-and-a-half hours.

The UNO Charter School network extended its school day and school year one year ago; UNO students will receive 190 instructional days in the 2012-2013 schoolyear and will have a seven-and-a-half hour school day.

# # #