Local News

Angry about possible budget cuts to education, students from Roosevelt High School arrive at the University of Washington's Red Square after walking out of their last period classes, meeting up with students from other high schools to protest Wednesday. (Photo by Ken Lambert / The Seattle Times)

UPDATE: 5 p.m.  Hundreds of students from Ballard, Roosevelt, Ingraham, Garfield and Nathan Hale high schools left classes Wednesday afternoon and walked or rode the bus to the University of Washington’s Red Square. There, they held a rally along with UW students, chanting slogans like “We’re the future of our nation, no more cuts to education.”

Seattle school administrators released this prepared statement:

“We certainly appreciate our students’ involvement and interest in the state’s current funding issues, especially K-12 funding. We are proud of our civic-minded students. However, we encourage our students to stay in class… Discipline is up to the principal’s discretion. Typically, absences are excused with parent/guardian permission.”

Students who didn’t attend classes all day might not be eligible to participate in that day’s athletic event or practice, the statement said.

Original Post:

Seattle high school students are planning to walk out of classes after lunch today and gather at the University of Washington campus as part of a larger protest over threatened state budget cuts to public schools. Details of the walkout can be found on this Facebook page.

They’re also expecting to be joined by some UW students, although — because the university is in finals week — it’s not clear how many college students will join them.

It’s the second time this fall that Seattle students have walked out of class to protest budget cuts. The first walkout, at Garfield, prompted two students there to write an op-ed piece in The Seattle Times explaining their concerns about state budget cuts to schools.

Gov. Chris Gregoire has scheduled a news conference this morning to propose “reforms” dealing with K-12 schools and teacher and principal evaluations.

Her office would not release details Monday. More information will be available after the 10:30 a.m. news conference.