Student uprising at local high school; no deaths or injuries reported
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,380010847,00.html?
The student walkout had been discussed throughout the week. After lunch, the students would walk out to protest the firing of history teacher Jim Eakins. The Utah Legislature recently passed a bill cutting back education spending; as a result several schools had to fire their teachers. Interestingly enough, that same Legislature passed a bill that would earthquake-proof Utah's Capitol building - the total amount came to a staggering $300 million. Education got FAR less than that.
The walkout was a wild success. 6th period was then dedicated to the walkout. Students came pouring out of the building protesting the firing of Jim Eakins. A certain noder stood there watching the crowd go by angrily protesting the firing of Mr. Eakins. Twenty policemen were there complete with nightsticks in case things got out of hand. unfortunately, they didn't
As I stood there, one girl turned to me and shouted:
Hey, kid from another school, why don't you join the march for Mr. Eakins?!
I briefly considered it. Mr. Eakins had been my history teacher - while not unique, he was certainly not boring. He had been a former basketball player, and it's easy to see why: he towered over the class in his 6'10 figure. Oddly enough, he sounds like Ardo Newpop from Under a Killing Moon, just not as stupid. I thought about joining the crowd, but Mr. Eakins had done nothing special for me. News media were there to cover the event, but they were shortly kicked off campus by the police
The students marched from the school's football field down to the corner of the street. They chanted 'ACADEMICS, NOT ATHLETICS!' referring to the fact that no coaches were being cut. 20 minutes later, the cops dispersed us hooligans and told the student body to get back to class or else suspensions would be handed out. All in all, it was an interesting experience, and a very nice waste of a sixth period.