Student chants heard ’round NJ
May 6, 2010 by Claire KnightPosted in: Free Speech
The ultimate school disruption: When state budget cuts started affecting New Jersey schools, students took action their way — with Facebook and Jersey fist pumps.
More than 17,000 students pledged to participate in a walkout planned in a Facebook group: “Protest NJ Education Cuts – State Wide School Walk Out.”
According to Newark’s The Star Ledger, 18-year-old Michelle Ryan Lauto organized the walkout to protest reductions in state aid for NJ schools announced by Gov. Chris Christie.
Under Christie’s plan, NJ schools may potentially lose up to $820 million in educational funding next school year, according to the Hartford Courant.
Lauto set up the Facebook page, urging students across the state to skip school: “Inform teachers, they will not argue it, because this is effecting (sic) them too. Most of your teachers, will actually not be returning next year because of all of these cuts.”
And on Tuesday, Apr. 27th, thousands of students walked out of schools, disrupting classroom routines and state standardized tests.
Even after warnings of potential in-school suspensions and detentions, students across the state participated. Here are a few examples:
- Rancocas Valley High School: Hundreds of students walked out of school and garnered support from passing motorists with Jersey fist pumps. A video of the protest was posted online.
- Montclair High School: Nearly 1,000 students participated, chanting, “No more budget cuts!” and carrying signs that said, “Cut Class Not Classes!”
- Teaneck High School: The protest started with two dozen students who were eventually joined by almost every student in the school. Students chanted, “Save our teachers! Save our schools!” as they marched around the football field.
- Bridgewater Raritan High School: Approximately 75 students gathered in front of the school — some wearing face paint, others waving signs that said, “Don’t take away our teachers!”
- Pleasantville High School: About a dozen students sat outside on a curb in front of the school. The students, who were texting away, ignored school officials who tried to talk to them.
- West Orange High School: Approximately 200 students participated, carrying signs that said, “Save the art department!” In a speech, senior Robert Wilson said, “This is not our mistake, and we will not suffer for it. Enough cuts. Enough is enough.”
- High Tech High School: More than 100 students participated in the walkout, chanting “Let’s go Tech High!” and carrying signs that said, “CUT CALORIES, NOT SALARIES!” Eleventh-grader Trevor McKeon said, “We are a small school, but we can still make a difference.”
- The largest group: Thousands of students crowded the steps of City Hall in Newark. Dozens of police officers were on the scene.
The total state-wide number of students who participated in the walkout is unknown.
Discipline coming?
It remains to be seen how school officials will handle discipline for students who participated in the protest.
“Schools should enforce their attendance policies. They should not be permitting students to walk out of class,” Education Commissioner Bret Schundler said in a statement released by the Christie administration.
Should students face disciplinary action or was participating in the protest protected free speech? Sound off below.
Tags: Facebook, First Amendment, Gov. Chris Christie, School budget cuts, school policies, Walkout
Loading ...
May 7th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
What a great way to band together and make a statement. I applaud the students for their efforts but would also support schools and school districts enforcing their policies to ensure that students also learn about personal responsibility and that their decisions to participate in an organized event like this will still have consequences.
May 7th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
That is exactly why more young people have to vote in local elections. It will have an impact on your personal life. l thought people in New Jersey were intelligent, but they proved me wrong. Have a nice day…
May 7th, 2010 at 2:19 pm
I glad these students had the courage to express their freedom of Speech. Teachers are the mentors of our generation. New Jersey Students proved to be wise beyond their years. Kuddos!!!
May 7th, 2010 at 2:29 pm
It’s encouraging to see that students and teachers are leading the charge against the corruption which has become institutionalized in our country today. The banksters on Wall Street and their crooked enabling hacks that we call politicians have destroyed the economy of Main Street. Still Wall Street cleans up; the students and teachers are only pointing out the obvious, that they did not cause the problem but are being punished for it. Now if we could only get ten million on the streets . . .
May 7th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
The protester’s own argument makes no sense “Most of your teachers, will actually not be returning next year because of all of these cuts.” How, exactly does a 5% cut in the school budget equal “most” teachers not returning? If every cent of the cut in state aid was applied directly to teachers, the most any district would lose would be around 10% of teaching staff, since teachers make up at least 50% of every school budget (more like 65-70%, but let’s make the math easy)
I’t obvious the 18 year-old that started this campaign needs a bit more education in grammar (affect vs effect) and likely math as well – I don’t think she can afford to miss even one day of school…
I say they should be disciplined. Their free speech rights don’t excuse them from missing school – if a bus driver takes a day off to go join a protest, she gets her pay docked, that doesn’t abridge her free speech rights, why should the students expect otherwise?
May 7th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
I think a little discipline is worth the risk for free speech. The schools could ask the parents to excuse the absences. If thousands of students started leaving a high-school, there’s little staff could do to stop it. Kids skip class all the time, follow policy, no big deal.
May 7th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
I think it’s fine that they protest – but I’m sure they do it in ignorance.
I doubt they are getting balanced information from their teachers about the reality of NJ state finances. I think the way to deal with it is give them accurate information about budget deficits and mountains of debt they are being saddled with that will affect and destroy their future.
Have them all study the Greece bankruptcy.
“The borrower becomes the lender’s slave” Proverbs 22:7
May 7th, 2010 at 4:07 pm
These kids should not be punished. They should be applauded for standing up for education. Even if the original student misspelled a word (Ken, check your punctuation (people in glass houses, etc. etc.)), I’m pleased that she managed to get so much support from teachers and students throughout the state. When I was younger, it seemed like all of my classmates were unmotivated about getting an education and more interested in skipping classes and having fun.
While the student’s statement might have been exaggerated, Ken’s own math supports that “many” of the teachers might not be able to return due to budget cuts. Who can we thank? At this point, no one is willing to raise taxes, but without more revenue the governments will not have money to pay for the education everyone expects for themselves and their children. Perhaps we should just scrap public education and put kids to work in factories starting at age 9 again. (Please pardon my sarcasm in the last sentence.)
May 7th, 2010 at 4:08 pm
Mark,
Can you please leave religion out of the discussion?
May 7th, 2010 at 4:09 pm
Your 3 choices:
1) Budget cuts
2) Borrow more money (which the taxpayers eventually have to pay!)
3) Raise taxes.
It’s not about the teachers. It’s not about the students. The well is dry and people do not have money to give any more, and that is the bottom line.
May 7th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
“Punish” them by involving them in a planning session to determine how the budget can be balanced. Teach them (that’s what schools do, right?) about math in real life, and give them the opportunity to brainstorm solutions to the problem.
May 7th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
IT was great to see the students protesting! A better method for the students would of been to ask their parents for a check for $2500.00 to put toward their school budget. That would show their commitment and their parents commintment to their own education. Working together for their own education, what could be better. What great role models and citizens they would become. Also they could sell any non essential electronic items they own (I.E. camera’s, TV’s, phone’s, iPod, Games, etc.) on ebay to raise additional money.
What great ideas!
May 7th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
It is better to WALK OUT than to be WALKED ON!!!
I am all for Protesting with Responsibilty! Way to go kids!
May 7th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
My hats off to the students. Too bad NJ voters didn’t see what was coming when they voted for the moron now in the governor’s office!
May 7th, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Students acted with understanding
Letter to the Editor – The Record – May 1, 2010
“Students protest cuts” (The Record, Page L-1, April 28) was a true lesson in civics and democracy in action.
In response to the New Jersey high school student mass walkouts on Tuesday to protest proposed school budget cuts, Governor Christie’s Press Secretary Michael Drewniak stated that “students would be better served if they were given a full, impartial understanding of the problems that got us here in the first place and why dramatic action was needed.”
Apparently, the governor and Drewniak failed to understand that students throughout the state who had an “impartial understanding of the problem” decided to take to the streets to let their voices be heard.
May 7th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
I am impressed. All over the country schools have not spent the student’s money with the best interest of the students and or the economic situation has cut school budgets dramatically. Students can not vote, but they can be heard. Students understand that they are getting less each year due to budgit cuts. Even the elementary kids know why they get electives cut, have to pay for sports, have too many students in classrooms, and many other things districts have been forced to cut. The older kids understand that lack of funding is restricting the amount and quality of their education which helps determine the quality of life in the future for our nation. I hope Michigan students do something to let the government know they are against more cuts to their education. I was always told that your education was the one asset no one could take from you. Children who are still in school will not have the same assets if they continue to cut funding for our kids.
May 7th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
Take a look at Greece today. Without fiscal restraint, that’s where this will all end!
May 7th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
Mary,
Choice 1, modified: Make the cuts in places other than education.
Here’s a good question for the people of New Jersey and every other state. In the wake of state budget cuts, what increase in pay and benifits have your lawmakers enjoyed over the past year? Another question: how many high paying, cushy jobs have been given to political supporters. (Research this. Not all jobs given to political supporters are given to people whose only skill is PR. Some of those are given to competent professionals.)
May 7th, 2010 at 6:26 pm
From a Gandian and Dr. Martin Luther King perspective, the students should be willing to suffer the consequences of their walkout. But just imagine an alliance ot teachers, administrators all over the state, closing down the school and holding a rally demanding funding. Imagine marching or rallying at the legislature in Trenton or at the Governor’s Mansion. Imagine a continued and sustained campaign to restore funding. Imagine a campaign to collect taxes from scaflaws and tax cheaters. The rich and their companies are always getting tax breaks, rebates or cooking their books to avoid pay Federal State and Local taxes. No one wants to see them punished, but when you engage in acts of civil disobedience, you have to be willing to pay the price, jail, fines, discipline, loosing ones job and prospect of having a criminal record, until the regime and culture change.
May 7th, 2010 at 6:33 pm
I don’t have much sympathy for the students or the schools. Everyone should have to share in the suffering when there is a budget crisis. We sent our children to Christian schools and had to pay taxes for the public schools as well as tuition for the private school, even though we were economically in the lower middle class. The schools my children attended made do with much lower spending per child, but my children received a very good education anyway. The public schools should learn to live with less money to spend and become more efficient in the way they spend their money. There are way too many administrators in many of the schools.
May 7th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
If the money used to bail out Wall Street and the auto industry were given to the American public based on a fair system we would not be in this situation. Just think, if the government gave each household $250,000. It would be less money given in the bail out. The string attached to the money would be: 1. You must buy an American made vehicle 2. You must put remaining money towards your Mortgage. Auto workers would be back to work, housing market fixed, banks restored.
May 7th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
The whole funding for schools is based on money from students showing up at school. These kids are the best example of capitalism ever! Hit them in the wallet and they’ll listen. YOU GO GUYS!
May 7th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Well if they do punish students the next protest will likely include parents, their freinds and politicians. Nothing could guarantee the success of this flowering movement more than idiotic educrats attacking the free speech of students. Sadly, I suspect the schools will realize this and put up with walkouts until the school year ends and the opportunity of students to withhold their cooperation ends … at least until September. For an nice accible guide to strategic nonviolent struggle:
http://www.usip.org/resources/non-violent-struggle-50-crucial-points
Someone should get this document to every incoming senior in New Jersey!
May 7th, 2010 at 7:25 pm
I agree with the comments that look at the larger picture – the real problem is unrestrained, unregulated laise-faire capitalism, enabled by corporate funding of elections combined with a corporate media that propagandizes with right wing talking points all leading to a electorate that either stays home or votes against its self interest. More people have to hit the streets communicating this message to counter the noisy miss-informed neo-fascists. There are many good reasons to pay taxes. The country will be better served if/when the power elite pay their fair share!
May 7th, 2010 at 8:39 pm
Sort of like a toddler tantrum on the college level. I agree with apied that now there needs to be a mechanism for the students to learn the facts behind the cuts and brainstorm solutions. To keep a community functioning, students need to know they are part of that community and solutions to problems come by working together, not by attacking each other.
May 7th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
These students are acting according to the way they are trained – good Marxists – the state is their source. They have no understanding of budgets etc. It would be interesting to find out how many of them know how much THEY will individually be paying towards their precious schools in the next 20 years? Adults need to ignore children throwing tantrums – even more so when the tantrums are inspired not even by self interest but by other adults – i.e. teacher’s unions whose interest is in maintaining themselves as the haves with regard to the split between the government funded haves and the rest of the people who are the have-theirs-taken-by-the-government.
May 8th, 2010 at 12:10 am
Greetings from Adelaide, Australia. Ken, by the way, is probably sitting at a desk in Gov. Christie’s office and needs to check his own grammar and spelling, as Rover says. We are facing government interference of a different kind in education in Australia- they throw money at schools but there are long strings attached, usually involving un-needed curriculum changes. Our students are yet to fully realise the power they possess if they unite so this New Jersey situation is a great incentive for them. Their problem is that our cities and communities are so far-flung that it’s difficult to organise. However, any govt. that takes funding away from education or health systems deserves to feel the wrath of the people.
May 8th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
I’ve been reading on all these stories about public school funding that schools should “do more with less.” I hope you don’t mean teachers. I don’t think you want to hear about the hundreds of dollars of my own money that I spend on my students and on class activities that are of real value and are things they enjoy and remember.
May 8th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Way to go kids!
May 8th, 2010 at 7:41 pm
How does my math support the statement that ‘most’ teachers won’t return?
Can we agree on the most liberal definition of most is 50% + 1? (most > half)
Please explain how a 5% cut in a district’s budget will lead to cutting more than half the teachers in the district? Wouldn’t that lead to class sizes DOUBLING in every class? And if teachers salaries and their benefits are 2/3rds of a district’s total budget, wouldn’t that cut the budget by one-third, which far exceeds the 5% Christie cut budgets?
I’ll own the typo I made…
May 8th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
My district is 99% local tax funded, we get less than 1% of our budget this year from the state AND federal sources, but we get every requirement the state and federal folks can imagine.
We lost almost $4M in state aid, and we cut our budget by the same $4M to not grow our tax revenue, but our local teachers are insisting the need their contracted 4.9% pay increases. My district starts teachers at $46K/year, the salary range tops out at around $100K/yr, and teachers march through the pay scale based on time in job. Period. Many, many $46K/year teachers will be let go to keep the pay raises the tenured teachers making $60K+/year are expecting.
May 9th, 2010 at 12:15 am
Wow, Ken! What town do you live in? I’m going to come and teach there! Oh, wait, no jobs for teachers anymore…
Our district does not pay anywhere near that. I’ve been teaching 12 years and make less than 60K. And I have a masters degree, student loans up the wazoo, etc.
I work my ass off at school, get there at 6:30, leave at 4, then bring 2 hours of work home with me (I don’t get over-time pay either) every night and weekends. I volunteer to chaperone school dances, get paid appx 2.00/hr (when you work out the yearly pay and hours I put in) to be a class advisor, and spend many afternoons helping students with extra help or tutoring for the NJ state biology test (all for free). I have spent my own money buying bagels or doughnuts for students to reward them for a job well done, and spent at least 300.00 in the grocery store throughout the year buying necessary supplies for my labs because the school’s budget gets cut back EVERY year. But according to Chris Christie, I am lazy, overpaid and underworked.
It’s really getting to be discouraging. I think I may find a different line of work. Seriously. How much money do YOU make Ken? And what exactly is it that you do?
May 9th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Hopewell Valley Regional School District, near Princeton, NJ.
Teacher Contract here: http://www2.hvrsd.org/Offices/humanresources/PublicDocuments/ContractHVEA0711.pdf
website: http://www.hvrsd.org
teacher salaries are listed in the linked-to contract…
May 10th, 2010 at 2:02 am
Our district is Hopewell Valley Regional School District:
http://www.hvrsd.org
Here’s a look at our teacher’s contract:
http://www2.hvrsd.org/Offices/humanresources/PublicDocuments/ContractHVEA0711.pdf
(Current year salary info is on page 38)
As an FYI, here’s a NJ newspaper site that provides salary info for New Jersey districts:
http://php.app.com/edstaff/search.php
May 10th, 2010 at 2:09 am
I’ve never heard Chris Christie speak about you personally, and I’ve never heard him say all teachers are lazy.
I can tell you that in my district teacher’s are well compensated for many of the “after school” activities you mentioned.
I actually work in my local school district, on a part-time basis, because full-time work isn’t available (due to budget cuts ;^) and I have, on occasion done some light substitute teaching so I have an appreciation for what the teachers in our district go through (I work with them daily, and I have stood in front of classrooms, but I have not prepared coursework).
May 10th, 2010 at 2:17 am
Jennifer, it seems to me that last year (2008-2009) you earned about $65,485/yr, had 9 years of exp. and worked for Old Bridge Township school district, amd I correct? That’s what the Asbury Park Press website tells me… That assumes you are a Biology Teacher with a Masters – is that you? I searched on your first and last name, the other Jennifer L Pinto is a kindergarten teacher with 22 years exp and earned $70,200 last school year (2008-2009) in Oldmans Township.
May 10th, 2010 at 11:25 am
I have read this article and I say Hurray to the students who stood up for education.
To those of you in the ‘teaching’ field, I know what you are going through with Budget cuts. Georgia began this year with removing $350 million from education and I heard this morning that the price is near $800 million now. By removing the first dollar amount, colleges and universities were going to have to cut back on people. If the second amount is what they are using, everyone will be cutting back, cutting out programs, losing students, etc. It is devastating that congresses around the states think that education is the first place they need to cut. It should be the last place they cut.
There should be a legistation at the Washington level that says education begins at a percentage this year, put the law into effect, then every year the percentage is raised by 10%. So, for instance, in Georgia, we start at 5.5 billion for all colleges, universities, and technical colleges. This means that each will receive a percentage of that. Next year, there would be a 10% increase for each school based on the initial formula used in the legislation. It needs to be a law, and it needs to be mandated throughout all the states. Education is the forefront of all learning. Without the funding, without the schools, without the teachers, there is no education, there is no training, and there is no workforce.
Ken and Jennifer, I have been teaching for 13 years at the same tech college and make less than $41,000. With furlough days, this is very difficult to survive with a family of three and my income being the only one that pays the bills. I have a master in my field, a bachelor in business, several associates and diplomas, plus certifications. I am currently working on another master in my field just more indepth material. Is there a raise in my future? Is there security in my job? No to both.
May 10th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
Mandy, you have a bachelor’s in business and you are in favor of a law mandating a 10% increase for schools every year? From where, exactly, do you think the money will come? And what institution awarded you a bachelor’s in business without helping you learn the fundamentals of economics? See Mary’s comment of May 7th. Wealth comes from productive free enterprise. It is not created by government, and history clearly demonstrates that governments usually have a detrimental effect on the production of wealth as soon as they begin to overly regulate enterprise.
And why, exactly, Rover, must Mark leave religion out of the discussion? This is a value-laden issue. Who has the right to control money? How are students to relate to their authorities and to each other? What is a moral and appropriate level of pay for teachers? How important is education in the life of a republic? Why is education important at all? Is it wrong for teachers to have to contribute some of their own money to make their teaching a success? What difficult choices do we make if wealth becomes more scarce? Do the “capitalists” have the right to conduct business the way they do? All these questions that touch this issue are value-laden, and religion has much to say (indeed, is all about) values. So why may we not examine the root values, including religious ones, as we seek solutions? Otherwise, we are perhaps just squabbling at each other over our opinions. Maybe what Mark shared from Proverbs is true: Does the borrower become a servant of the lender? If that’s true, then why should we discount the comment because it is “religious”? Is borrowing billions upon billions stupid and foolish or is it a good idea? Is Greece’s economy thriving right now, and what can we learn from their mistakes?
Shouldn’t we be looking for what is true and works well in the long run? Shouldn’t we be examining values to see how to proceed with these and like questions? Shouldn’t we look at history to see where peoples and their governments have thrived, and where they have failed? The idea proposed by Apied is a good one — have the students participate is roundtables that demonstrate where the state’s money is being spent, and encourage them to look for solutions.
May 11th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Here is the situation in NJ: take this year’s budget (2009-2010), subtract 5%, and if municipalities keep their school tax at the same level, they will have 95% of this years budget to work with. That level of cut hurts, but it won’t decimate the educational process – it will cause school districts to really rethink the line between ‘nice to have’ and ‘must have’. Teachers here in NJ are being forced to come to the realization that their generous raises (and yes, a 4.9% raise when inflation is lessthan half that IS generous) fall into the ‘nice to have’ category’, atleast they do this year. To argue that schools can’t function on 95% (or more, if voters approve a tax increase) of this years budget is to imply that our schools are so well run that there was virtually no waste, no excess, no ‘nice to haves’ in the current budget – no one can seriously believes that…