Proud of My Students

In the spirit of the Oscars, in the category of "Creative Protest" I give you several protests by the students of the downtown high school where I teach. The school is being closed by the (not very local) school board at the end of this year. Many people in the community are not happy with this decision and are protesting.

I am not protesting because, as an employee of the board, I have been instructed not to speak out about this issue. However, I do feel I can congratulate my students on their delightful, powerful, creative, and inspirational protests. (My daughter would have been in grade 9 here next year but will now have to take a bus to a different school. She and her friends have been involved in several of these protests.) I have linked these to news media reports and other photos - hope they stay!

Protest #1: Holding Hands
Two days before the decision was voted on by the board, the students took to the streets. They decided to symbolically connect our downtown school to the community around the school by linking hands from the school's front door to the Market Hall, a symbol of our town. The first person in line, holding the door, was a graduate of our school from 1932! Her (great?) granddaughter was next in line followed by approximately 400 students and supporters. People were joining as the line grew down the street. Cars were honking their horns, store owners came outside to show their support. It was really heartwarming.

Protest #2: Ghost Town
Many people fear that the downtown stores will suffer when the school is closed taking 850 students out of the downtown core. The students decided to illustrate this with a protest on Halloween. They dressed all in white and walked en masse through downtown.

photo from pcvs.ca

Protest #3: Shut Up
To show solidarity with their teachers who have been instructed not to discuss or comment on the closure of the school, the students wore duct tape over their mouths for a day. To paraphrase the vernacular, 'nuff not said!

Protest #4: Skip-to-ma-Queen's Park
To take their protest to the top, the students organized 10 busloads of students and supporters (approximately 450 people) to go to Queen's Park, site of our provincial legislature, in hopes of meeting the Premier or at least the Minister of Education. Neither made an appearance, but our own (useless) MPP came out to speak to them, as well as the opposition education critic and other opposition MPPs, one of whom had graduated from our school.

Protest #5: See No Evil
The most recent protest gave me the shivers and inspired this post. A regularly scheduled board meeting was held this week and there was not expected to be any business regarding our school. However, the students do not want the board to think they've given up so they again took a large group to attend the meeting. Right after the national anthem, the put on blindfolds.

They feel that the board is not seeing them, that their concerns are being ignored. The board cow (oops) chair stood up and declared it was a protest and was not allowed and that they would take a recess. The students, not wanting to be disrespectful, but wanting to make a point, put their blindfolds away. The board reconvened and the students covered their eyes with their hands. For ONE AND A HALF HOURS! My daughter was so affected by it - she said it was the most awesome thing she's ever done.