Brooklyn, November 5—Over 50 mostly Black and Latin high school students walked out of their classes and staged an energetic protest in front of the John Jay Campus. They were protesting the racist conditions at the Secondary School for Journalism, one of five schools in the building. that were destroying their education and making it difficult for seniors to fulfill their graduation requirements. The students were fed up and they reached out to students at the other schools in the building and organized a walkout.
The New York City Department of Education (DOE)  has mismanaged this struggling school for years. Principals have been rotated almost every year over the last 5 years. One year they even started the school year with no principal. The DOE tried to have the Secondary School for Law principal at the time keep Journalism afloat.
 The students at this school have endured disaster after disaster and have had enough. They organized this walkout specifically protesting the current principal, Livingston Hilaire.
The latest complaint is an online learning curriculum called Summit Learning. Hilaire hastily forced this online learning website on his students without much thought or staff training. Now many students sit multiple periods per day staring at a computer screen. Many seniors are worried about graduation, as they are not enrolled in classes they need to meet the New York State Graduation Requirements. When students and parents complained to Hilaire, he basically responded with the standard top down response of “too bad this is what we are doing.”
H.S. Students shutting it down!
During the walkout students demanded Hilaire come outside to answer their demands he was nowhere to be found. Principal Hilaire is just a cog in the wheel of the racist system of education that capitalism has to offer the working class. Our youth deserve more than a dumbed down online learning curriculum that stymies their love of learning.Here is what some of the student protesters had to say:
— The walk out was an act of civil disobedience a walk for our right to receive a proper education. The principal of the Secondary School for Journalism failed to advocate for the students who were treated wrong. A majority of the seniors felt they were mistreated, and the principal did not help them stay on track to graduate, refusing to give students classes they need in order to graduate.
—  It was raining but that didn’t stop the students fighting for what they believe. It wasn’t organized but it was strong and loud and it was their fight for justice no matter the consequences they were fighting for something they believe in.
— The walkout was great! It takes so much courage to go against your school and fight for your rights and I’m extremely happy that the kids from journalism did so. When close to no teachers are defending you it can easily get discouraging but as a school we stuck together and showed that although there are five different schools in one building, an injustice to one is an injustice to all. We rallied outside of the school for around 45 minutes calling for change. Some kids were threatened with suspension and other disciplinary actions but made the decision that fighting for the right to an education was much more important. After the kids raised their complaints with principal Hilaire, they were told if they were to do the walkout no other school would advocate for you because they don’t care about you. With this, the students were infuriated and told everyone else in the building. As a collective, we all supported journalism in their fight for justice!
As these students rallied in the rain they chanted “Summit will plummet” and “How do you spell racist? DOE” and “Hilaire come out” and “We are not cowards”
Youth leaders in the fight against racism
When one of the students returned to class, the teacher asked why they had walked out. After hearing what was happening at Journalism and why many students were supporting the students there, the teacher said “And that’s why I’m not even mad.” Then the other students also asked a lot of questions. This was at Park Slope Collegiate where there has been a lot of struggle against racism and segregation. And the teachers at Park Slope Collegiate fight hard and work hard for their students. We need more of that. Students, teachers and parents uniting to fight for an anti-racist education and also an anti-racist world. That would be communism.