Dozens of Petersburg High School students marched out of class and into the streets on the morning of April 4th with signs in their hands and a message on their lips in support of state education funding. The walkout was part of a coordinated statewide protest of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s veto of Senate Bill 140, which would have given Alaska schools their first funding boost in almost a decade.
KFSK’s Shelby Herbert followed the protest from the high school into Petersburg’s downtown and has this story.
At the sound of the 11 o’clock bell, dozens of students walk out of class and into downtown. But they’re not just out to enjoy the rare spring sunshine.
Petersburg High School junior Eleanor Kandoll says she’s full of school spirit — she’s proud of the place she’s lived and learned her whole life. But she says PHS needs more support from the state government if it is to stay a great place to learn.
“We have a lot of activities, and these activities are what keep people in school,” says Kandoll. “There are so many kids who only go to school for shop [class]. And if that activity were to get closed down because we couldn’t fund it, we’d lose so many students, and we’d lose student engagement — and that’s really the whole point of the education system.”
Kandoll’s fears about programs falling to the wayside are echoed by senior Charlotte Martin, who is also the student school board liaison. She says the school district’s budgetary issues have hurt her classmates’ academic opportunities.
“I’m out here because we’re seeing how the lack of funding is affecting programs and classes that are offered,” says Martin. “Everything’s shrinking down, and there are way fewer opportunities for students. We can see that teachers are already leaving, and everything just feels like it’s kind of falling apart.”
Senior Kinley Lister has been paying close attention to recent school closures across the state — that includes Southeast, with the recent consolidation of the Thunder Mountain and Juneau-Douglas high schools.
“…And I think that strikes pretty close to home, [as to] why we need more funding for our education,” says Lister. “We don’t want to see our schools closing down, so I think we need to stand together to support our education as a state.”
Senior Kieran Cabral is just a few steps behind Lister. His reason for joining the walkout is a bit more personal.
“Both my parents work in the school district,” says Cabral. “And reducing pay for teachers is definitely something that’s going to affect our lives. We’re not asking for pay raises, but we are asking for no pay cuts. That’s gonna [be a] detriment to a lot of people’s lives, and we’re not for that. So, that’s my comment, that’s my spiel!”
(Photo by Shelby Herbert/KFSK)
Senior Dakota Caples is at the front of the pack. She helped coordinate the march. I catch up with her as the students reach the totem poles at the edge of downtown and start heading back to class.
“I think it was a successful thing,” says Caples. “I feel like with it being such a wide thing right now all across Alaska, [this] could get our message across. I think if everyone at least posts this, gets it out there and gets the word out, then [that] would be a smart idea.”
Instead of a sign, Caples has her phone in her hand. She’s recording the whole march to post on social media, in hopes of spreading their message even farther.
“I think posting them and then sending them to our Senate people, and putting it on pages and showing it to people — being like, ‘the students are mad about this — not just our teachers,’ and just proving to everyone that we’re not happy about this,” says Caples.
Back at the School District office, Superintendent Erica Kludt-Painter says she had prior knowledge of the students’ plans. And although she can’t officially endorse the protest, she says Petersburg School District is pretty much on the same page.
“I mean, just knowing that we’re concerned about funding — and so, students are concerned about funding clearly as well, Because it could impact their lives and their teachers’ lives and their opportunities in school, and so I think they are concerned about that,” says Kludt-Painter.
Petersburg’s school board passed a resolution on March 15 encouraging legislators to override the Governor’s veto. That override failed by one vote.
Petersburg’s student walkout was part of an organized, statewide protest against cuts to education funding, with students from as far south as Ketchikan and as far north as Bethel joining in.
As a note of disclosure, Eleanor Kandoll is a student volunteer at KFSK.
