30 Students Walk Out in Protest @ West Philadelphia High - Philadelphia, PA
N 39° 57.260 W 075° 12.983
18S E 481517 N 4422711
About 30 students walked out of West Philadelphia High School on Friday, Februrey 11, 2011, protesting a planned restructuring of their school and the handling of discipline.
Waymark Code: WMARDG
Location: Pennsylvania, United States
Date Posted: 02/17/2011
Views: 5
We always knew our schools were troubled due in part to some members of the communities we serve having a lack of value for education. You can't teach those students who are truant, violent offenders, and chronically disruptive. One might make the argument, parents who are not involved or just don't parent or even care are a major part of the problem as well, not bad teachers or a bad district. We are a great district and the students at West Philly High recognize this. No Child Left Behind has brought a very murky problem into a clear field of view. School personnel are now the problem and when a school fails they are removed. The students realize how wrong this is and showed their displeasure with recent decisions to reorganize their school with this walk out.
Led by junior D'Atwan Nelson, the group milled around briefly, with a few students shouting "No education, no life!" Inside, some students banged on windows facing Walnut Street, raising their fists to encourage those who walked out.
The action lasted just a few minutes around 1 p.m., until school police officers walked outside to disperse the crowd. School officials made no mention of possible disciplinary action.
West is one of 18 schools that officials plan to overhaul in September - some as charters and others, including West, as district-run schools called "Promise Academies" with longer school days and years.