More than 100 Vashon High School students walked out of class on Friday to demand better educational opportunities and “No more subs!”
They complained that the absence of their principal Terry Houston, who resigned last week, and the constant rotating door of teachers was weighing on their academic performance. On the most recent report card from the state, Vashon earned only 28 percent of available points.
On Monday, a group of students met with St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams about addressing the concerns on their “agenda.”
“At this point, I don’t think I’ve accomplished very much,” said Vashon senior Alfred Montgomery, who organized the protest. “All I have is Dr. Adams’ word. The students are still frustrated and want answers.”
Montgomery said students want the school to establish a student council, which has not been in place since he switched schools a year ago from Gateway STEM High School.
The school has not had a school newspaper since 2008, and he believes many students like to write and want to voice their concerns.
They want the school to focus more attention on helping students prepare for standardized and college placement tests. Currently, the school has too many substitute teachers, who simply put on a movie during class, he said.
“A lot of students walk into class and walk right out when they see a sub,” he said. “They want a certified teacher. We’re going into these tests blindfolded.”
Vashon has four full-time substitutes on staff.
The school needs more elective or “pathway” classes, he said. If there is nothing to “tie students” to their education, they are not going to invest their time, he said.
The students want a town hall meeting that would bring together students, administrators and residents, led by students, he said.
They want student hall monitors – roles which would be filled by seniors. Montgomery said it would allow the underclassmen to see that seniors care about getting to class, and so should they.
Students have directed their concerns to Superintendent Adams because Vashon is currently under his direct supervision. Under the district’s school transformation plan, the superintendent is giving personal attention to schools with chronically low academic performance. As part of the plan, Vashon is supposed to be receiving extra resources to ramp up students’ academic progress.
Montgomery said the school staff agrees with the students’ plan. Now it’s up to the superintendent, he said.
“There have been riots and student fights because they didn’t know how to voice their concerns,” he said. “I was able to organize a peaceful protest.”
Montgomery’s training in community activism goes back to elementary and middle school, when he was part of a youth group organized by longtime activist Brother Anthony Shahid. In the youth group, they talked about community issues and ways that even children could help. Before he led the walkout, he called Shahid, who has been a leader in the Ferguson protests.
“He told me, ‘If you think it’s right and it’s for the good of the students, then go for it,’” Montgomery said.
And he was strongly influenced by the late Bertha Knox Gilkey, a community organizer who played a key role in the improvement of public housing in St. Louis and around the nation. She passed away in May. Montgomery was one of the children that Gilkey worked with in the Carr Square neighborhood.
After witnessing Montgomery’s zest for community organizing, Gilkey once told him, “This is your calling.”
Adams did not return the St. Louis American’s request for comment.
