Parents and students occupied a Chicago school Wednesday, refusing to budge from a Lafayette Elementary classroom on the final day of education before the school is permanently shut down by the city.

Lafayette was just one of 28 Chicago public schools that held its final day of classes Wednesday after the city's board of education drove through a late-May plan to shutter a stunning eight percent of all public schools in the city.

Wednesday's closures were just the first wave: 49 schools total, almost all elementary level, will permanently close their doors to students.

Lafayette parents and students are not willing to accept the city's plan, Progress Illinois reports:

“Closing Lafayette will kill our neighborhood and our families,” said Rousemary Vega, a parent occupying the school. “We demand that this school stay open. We demand to keep our music programs, and our special ed program. We’re not leaving until this school is saved."

When the school day ended, a group of nine took over the second-story room. NBC reports:

The protestors, who have labeled themselves "Occupy Lafayette," hung signs from the windows of the classroom. One person could be seen waving an American flag.