Parents, students and teachers at Chicago High School for the Arts, or ChiArts, gathered outside the school in Humboldt Park Tuesday morning to push back against proposed changes by Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
ChiArts is preparing to transition from a charter school to a district-run school. Currently, students spend three hours in a nine-hour day working on an arts discipline and five hours in academic classes.
CPS' proposed model would compress 150 minutes of arts instruction into a seven-hour, 15-minute school day, meaning students would receive 30 minutes less of arts-dedicated instruction.
"Compressing is not preserving," said ChiArts parent Lisa Miranda. "Course offerings will drastically be slashed for students. Students will no longer be able to take any electives other than arts."
She said CPS has created an "illusion of inclusion" by asking for input from community members without actually collaborating with them.
"We were consulted but not incorporated," Miranda said. "We were heard but not reflected. We are invited to meetings but not invited to authorship."
English teacher and the Chair of the CTU Council at ChiArts Megan Pietz said organizers are demanding transparency and a conversation with CPS about proposed changes.
"This is a major cut to our programming and our school overall," Pietz said. "We are asking CPS to tell us specifically why our model does not work. We need you to come to the table and continue the conversation so next year's students know what they are walking into."