On October 5th, more than 200 DC high school students wearing all black walked out of classes on to protest the layoff of 388 school employees. Chanting “No counselors, no college!” students met at McKinley Technology High School and marched towards schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s office.
“We are here because our education in on the line,” said one student. “We have no teachers. All our counselors have been laid off. I am a senior, I want to graduate, I want to go to college, I want to have a future, but how can I do that without a school counselor?”
On October 2nd, officers from the Metropolitan Police Department entered classrooms at McKinley at around 2:45pm Friday to escort the teachers out of the classroom.
“I was in class, the police came in, told my teacher to leave the classroom and escorted her to her car. We knew the layoffs were coming but we didn’t know who or when it would happen. It was very distressing,” explained Tamika DeBose, a student at McKinley Tech.
As McKinley students gathered peacefully in the school courtyard on Friday, police attempted to disperse them, pepper-spraying DeBose directly in the face. Another senior, Teyvon
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