By: Ashmar Mandou

Students from ten different Chicago Public Schools dressed in “zombie” attire to represent the death of Chicago’s public education system.

Last Friday, hundreds of students marched from CPS headquarters to City Hall where they requested a meeting with Mayor Rahm Emanuel to discuss re-allocating CPS funds given to charter schools to public schools and that the TIF surplus be used for public education.

“Chicago Public Schools has not been supporting the students of Chicago, lately. Instead of gaining an education these students are risking their lives on dangerous walks to new, more distant schools,” said Nidalis Burgos, sophomore at Lincoln Park High School and member of the Chicago Student Union. “The children who attend these CPS schools have been left to choose between their education and their own safety.”

Students part of the Chicago Student Union, a student-led organization dedicated to enhancing student voice through educational activism, led the march.