Monday 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.

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 4th. 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 school year and will have a seven-and-a-half hour school day.