Students walk out of class in budget cut protest

La Conner students stepped up their support for school staff and programs threatened by district budget cuts in a most visible way Monday.

About 60 middle and high school students, many of them chanting and carrying signs, walked out of morning classes and marched downtown to make public their concerns with funding shortfalls that will force layoffs and may ax popular course offerings next year.

The walkout was organized by high school junior Jack Dougliss, who spoke passionately at the April 24 school board meeting on behalf of favorite teachers and classes in peril from a $1.5 million district spending reduction plan to offset declining enrollment, the main driver of state funding of public education.

"I had a couple students reach out to me after the board meeting and asked if I could plan something," Dougliss told the Weekly News Monday.

Dougliss said most teachers expressed support for the walkout and that Superintendent Will Nelson was sympathetic to the cause, if not okay with students missing class time.

"He said he was proud that we were using our voices," Dougliss said. "He said this is a statewide and nationwide issue and that we can reach out to him with our questions. He said it was very hard for him to let staff go."

During a series of community public forums, Nelson has said the district has been hurt by falling enrollment – projections are for 490 K-12 students this fall, down from 600 leading up to COVID-19 –a smaller than anticipated allocation of federal impact aid monies and the loss of pandemic-related emergency funds.

School board member John Agen at successive panel meetings this spring has lamented that the state is not funding public education at a greater level.

Those are big picture macroeconomic impacts. For students, the budget crisis is seen in more personal terms, as in the potential loss of inspiring teachers and engaging classes.

Thus, the walkout.

"It was peaceful and respectful," said student body president Rachel Haley, who, like Dougliss, addressed the board last month. "We wanted to make sure we made the point without going overboard."

In an email to district personnel, the office of Middle & High School Principal Christine Tripp confirmed that students participating in the walkout were "protesting peacefully and respectfully."

The email reminded recipients that those taking part in the walkout should be marked with unexcused absences for classes missed. It said that students not present for four classes would not be allowed to participate in Monday's extracurricular activities.

Tripp was in meetings Monday afternoon and unable to comment.

Students exiting school after the final bell shared their thoughts.

Among them was senior class member and Weekly News photographer Madoc Hiller, who created several of the slogans that appeared on signs carried by the student marchers.

Hiller said Dougliss implored students to contact state lawmakers about funding issues that are affecting districts throughout the state. He said students marched through town chanting "fund it, don't cut it" and "fund our schools."

While at Gilkey Square, he and Haley said, students used sidewalk chalk they were given to write the slogans that appeared on their signs.

Hiller said students then returned to campus, stopping outside the administration building before resuming their classes.

"I was proud of you guys because of the turnout," Haley told Dougliss and Hiller. "Most everyone was chanting and active."

La Conner Schools is no stranger to student marches. In the early 1990s, students – fondly dubbed "the children of flower children" – marched downtown to protest the Persian Gulf War. Following the 2018 mass shooting at Parkland High School in Florida, students marched against gun violence.

This latest march dealt with subjects closer to home.

"We're just trying to stand up for our town, our school, our siblings and cousins," said Haley, who plans to attend Central Washington University this fall. "The main goal is to maintain a stable and well-prepared generation, to help our youth and by doing so, to help our future."