Morningside High School students walked out of their classes on Wednesday to stage a protest against the planned closure of the school. The press conference was held on the front lawn of Morningside.
“What is happening at our school is wrong and every person who cares about our education should know, said Evelyn Perez, a senior who is a member of the Latino Student Union and Environmental Club. “As students, we continue to excel, winning 1st place in competitions, and even having the highest test scores in the district, but Administrator James Morris has chosen to ignore that and close our school. We will not sit silently while our educational needs are ignored and disrupted any longer.”
Morningside High students said the Los Angeles County Office of Education’s (LACOE) has refused to make improvements to their school.
“We feel like Administrator Morris has intentionally neglected Morningside High School by refusing to hire long term teachers, refusing to provide us with culturally appropriate classes that prepare us for the real world, and refusing to create a plan to help the district improve as a whole. Most of our teachers are substitutes and the good teachers we have are highly overworked and underpaid, said Junior Ahmarei Reese, a cheerleader at Morningside High and member of the Knights of Need.
Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) teachers represent the lowest-paid educators in the state. At their press conference, students laid out a list of demands to Administrator Morris, LACOE, the California Department of Education, and the California Legislature.
This Walk-Out was prompted by Administrator Morris’s announcement that he will be closing 5 IUSD school next school year. The IUSD has suffered under the control of the California Department of Education and the LACOE for the past 12 years. In 2012 IUSD accepted a $29 million dollar loan from the California Department of Education and in exchange for that loan, the Department of Education charged the school district almost 30% interest and took all legal rights, authority, and control of the elected school board.
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