Parents and students from Voices of Youth in Chicago Education marched to City Hall yesterday in protest of the Noble Network of Charter Schools' use of $5 fines to discipline students for mild infractions, like bringing chips to class or not shaking someone's hand. The protesters contend Noble uses the fines to push low-performing students out of schools.

While protesters brought attention to their grievances yesterday, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has praised Noble's discipline policy. The mayor called it the "secret sauce" to the charter network's success in an interview with Fox News Juan Williams in a pro-charter school, anti-teacher union video.

Noble was the only of Chicago's nine mutli-site charter operators to beat the Chicago Public Schools' districtwide average on state test scores last spring.