JAY – About 130 high school students waged a 45-minute sit-in demonstration Thursday morning to protest the lack of a new teachers’ contract. Students plan another protest after 2 p.m. Friday outside of the school building.
The protest surprised teachers and School Committee members.
Jared McCourt, a junior at Jay High School, said students wanted to show that the lack of new contract is not just affecting teachers.
“We haven’t seen hardly any resistance from teachers,” McCourt said. “School is about students and their learning.”
McCourt said he told students that if they had come to the sit-in to get out of class, to go back to class. That was not what the sit-in was about, the 17-year-old said.
No one left the gym, “we’re taking it seriously,” he said. “Students do care.”
‘It doesn’t work’
Teachers have been working without a new contract since the old one expired last year.
Earlier this year negotiations failed, and the School Committee’s bargaining team rejected an independent, fact-finding panel’s recommendations.
Teachers were willing to accept the fact-finding recommendations which included more than tripling their own co-payment contribution and compromising on wage increases. Contract negotiations are at a standstill.
Teachers then began limiting their work day, “working to rule.”
McCourt said one of the ways the students are feeling the crunch is that it has become difficult for students to get the extra help they need.
“I am a student who needs one-on-one help,” he said. School gets out at 2:03, and teachers stay until 2:30, but by the time students get to the class for extra help, there is not enough time, he said. Sometimes there are three to five kids in a classroom; if they’re like him, McCourt said, they need one-on-one guidance.
“You only have 20 to 25 minutes to get the help – it doesn’t work,” he said.
“I’m just a student who has had enough,” McCourt said. “My mother is a teacher; I know what she’s going through.”
Principal prepared
Principal Peter Brown said he heard about a possible protest Wednesday evening. He went over in his mind what he would do if it happened, so he was ready Thursday when students filed into the gym.
Brown said he told students that he understood what they were doing but wasn’t going to let them sit there all day and get out of class. By the time he came back to the gym a short while later, students had gone to class, he said.
“They were peaceful,” Brown said. “I truly think it’s a learning experience. They did what they had to do. I think they were satisfied that they made a statement and they listened to what I had to say.”
Jay Education Association issued a statement to administration Thursday that encourages students to attend classes and follow normal school routines.
“JEA does not support the idea of students cutting class to protest the lack of a teacher contract with the School Committee. We encourage students to discuss any questions or concerns regarding this matter with their parents or guardians and to model good citizenship practices.”
School Committee Chairman Clint Brooks said he hadn’t heard about student protest until he was contacted by media.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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