By Jason Keyser, Associated Press, 2/18/2012

About 100 students, teachers and community activists staged a sit-in Saturday at a struggling Chicago school to try to block a takeover by the city meant to turn around the school's poor performance.

The protesters -- most of whom pitched tents outside, while 15 others holed up inside the building -- said the planned takeover by a nonprofit academy working for the city government would likely mean cuts to special education and bilingual programs.

They also argue that 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 economically depressed West Side.

Differing opinions on how to save Chicago's failing schools have been a frequent source of conflict among school officials, teachers and the city. In its most recent attempt to address the problem, Chicago Public Schools is seeking to turn around Piccolo and more than a dozen other schools through a private organization called the Academy of Urban School Leadership.

The program has generated some opposition from parents and teachers because it has resulted in staff dismissals and other unpopular changes.

The overnight sit-in began Friday evening and ended Saturday afternoon after the School Board agreed to a meeting early in the coming week to discuss their demands, protesters said.

Carolina Gaete from Blocks Together, a community nonprofit involved in the protest, said earlier requests for a meeting had been ignored for weeks. "That's the reason we decided to take such a radical step of occupying the school," she said.

Chicago Public Schools said it held public hearings on the plans and invited residents' input.

"We respect and share Piccolo parents' passion for their students' education," said Jean Claude Brizard, the school district's chief executive. "The fact is, Piccolo has been failing its students year after year, and it is our responsibility to do everything we can to give these students access to a higher quality education."

The Academy of Urban School Leadership did not immediately return calls seeking comment Saturday.

Gaete said the academy is exempt from federal mandates requiring special education and other programs. As a result, she said, students with special needs have been forced out of other schools in the turnaround program.

"It's not about education," she said of the city's intervention. "It's about using our kids as guinea pigs once again because we're poor, immigrant, African-American families."

Gaete acknowledged Piccolo has fallen behind but said a new principal has come up with a plan for improving performance that is just starting to have an impact in increasing attendance and making gains in reading and math.

High school teacher and activist Marty Ritter, who joined the protesters, accused the school district of abandoning some schools with poor academic performance until they fail and then handing them over to charter schools or turnaround programs for radical overhauls.

"I honestly don't believe that any school is a failure, because it's just a failure of CPS to provide the adequate number of resources," he said.

Originally published here.