Students protest teacher layoffs, get detention

Students protest teacher layoffs and then get detention. Image via stock.xchng.

About 70 students at Rhinelander High School in Rhinelander, Wisconsin walked out of classes on May 9 to protest the pending layoff of four beloved teachers. Suffering from a $2 million budget shortfall, the district decided to layoff the teachers.

The students wanted to stand up for the teachers. Student Dalton Rose told WJFW in Wisconsin, “The teachers that are getting fired, if they did what we’re doing right now, they’d be fire instantly. So they know that they have someone that will stick up for them.”

Principal Paul Keats sent a letter to the students’ parents explaining that he could not permit the students to disrupt the educational environment.

The school administration did not make an immediate response in regards to disciplinary action. Associate Principal David Ditzler told WJFW that they did not want to have a “knee jerk response.”

This week, administrators decided that the students would receive detention and not be suspended. Since the students missed school time, the administration feels that it is appropriate that they make the time up. Associate Principal Ditzler also told Wisconsin Public Radio that they hope to meet with each student individually to discuss the disciplinary actions.