Live! Coverage of the District 207 Student Protest!

 

Liberté, égalité, fraternité, French for "Liberty, equality, fraternity," is the national motto of France. "But wait," an astute reader asks, "Where's 'equality'? And why is it replaced with 'McGreevy'?" Ah, yes, those questions shall be answered in due time.

Very recently, District 207 raised the guillotine for the teaching careers of 75 full-time teachers and 62 staff members, laying off a total of 137 employees, in order to counteract (an arguable) $17 million debt. How does one accumulate such a figure? Well, there are a multitude of factors. New plasma TVs, security cams, and a "welcome desk" are a few new additions from Maine South's end. Of course, there are a lot more, and one must take account the other changes implemented at Maine East and Maine West as well. You can learn more from this little link.

Now, offsetting this debt by firing teachers is truly a big no-no, especially in the minds of the student body. Of course, firing teachers is not the only decision the District has made; they have also cut programs and other extracurricular activities in order to try and salvage themselves from this pit of debt. (Bad move, District 207. VERY bad move.) Upon notice of these transactions, many students were outraged, forming groups on Facebook such as "my teacher got replaced by a plasma tv" or "Save [Insert Teacher's Name Here]!"

However, one group sought after uniting the students of Maine South, Maine West, and Maine East, creating a representative student body of District 207. Donning the name "Maine Township Students Against Teacher and Staff Cuts," these members have effectively harnessed the potential power of students from each branch. (Yeah, I know there are a lot of other groups claiming to do that, but hey, was your group the one who organized this protest? That's what I thought.) As of now, the group consists of over 2,000 members, formed by students, alumni, parents, and other supporters.

Well, on January 22, 2010, this group was also responsible for organizing a protest outside of Maine South High School. Cue the wave of videos...


Doesn't it remind you of the TODAY show?


 Yes, you're seeing it correctly; even the BS got some coverage of the protest. Of course, with our budget, we can afford a camera but not camera angles. Oh well. At least we got a shoutout. Maybe we really do have more than 3 loyal readers...


Here's another video with the students chanting, "Save our teachers!"

In addition to all of this, several students gave testimonies regarding their teachers.


Here's another one...


And guess what? Even our very own BS Staff Member, Kate, got to sum it all up...


Sorry, Kate, we ran out of air-time...



As you can see, there is great devotion among these students. Will the District respond in their favor? Let's hope; these students have the same passion as an angry mob with pitchforks and torches, even if they aren't literally using them. None of them are in any position to admit defeat either. All of these students are ready to address the District's irresponsible spending and offer their own perspectives in any way possible; they are all willing to do anything to get their voice heard. So, to all you loyal readers, spread the word. 

Besides, isn't one of the major goals of school to offer a quality education? Without some of these teachers, we might get something like this...

Now, do you honestly want this to happen to our future? This is an English teacher's nightmare.