What Boycott? CPS Claims Record Attendance

Chicago Public Schools officials claimed first-day attendance was record high, despite the two day boycott led by the rev. and state Sen. James Meeks.

From the Sun-Times:

Of the school system's 405,000 students, 93.7 percent showed up -- compared with 93 percent last year -- officials said at a news conference Thursday in Roseland, where Meeks' New Salem Baptist Church is located.

Meeks questioned CPS' figures, since his boycott kept nearly 1,000 students out of school that day as part of a protest of the inequitable school funding structure.

"With all of this dismal failure, obviously, then, someone at CPS doesn't know what they're doing," Meeks told Chicago Public Radio.

Chicago Board of Education president Rufus Williams credited Meeks' boycott for boosting attendance by raising awareness of the start of school.

What we saw through the numbers this year is that everyone understands the importance of education, and everyone worked hard to ensure our children were there the first day," he said. "This year we were up against an obstacle we never expected we would be up against. . . . I'm thrilled that more people heard our message.