Lillian Wood

West Forsyth School Teacher Protest

The school district of Winston-Salem Forsyth County is in a $46 million deficit. To lessen the debt for future years, they have planned to lay off about 350 staff and administration, which is estimated to save about $18 million. In response, many teachers and students have taken action and many schools have protested.  Most recently, there was a student walkout on August 25 at our very own school and there have been many more around the district.

 Students who took part in the walkout on August 25th support the teachers who’ve been working together against this, while also working hard at the schools for them. The students have shown their pride for their teachers standing up to the layoffs.  

“I think it’s great that they’re all banding together to support, you know, the teachers that are more likely to lose their jobs,” junior Sydney Mireille said.

At the walkout on the 25th the teachers were supporting the students by making sure they were not on the road. Some students have doubts on whether the protests could sway the district.

“I think the board is going to make whatever decision they wanna make and they are not gonna take into account how people feel because as long as they do not have to cut their own paychecks,” junior Ashlyn Spolyar said.

On the other hand, many believe that the protests could have a chance at affecting the layoffs.

“I think it definitely could. I mean I think the amount of cars that we saw went by and acknowledged us. I think hopefully someone will say something,” junior Lucy Garner said.

With the large number of layoffs some students even worry about how their learning will be affected as it could possibly change how they need to take classes for future education or career.

“I am pretty worried some of the classes they can cut the teachers and then I would not be able to take those classes for credits and that can impact a ton of students,” junior Ella Mecham said.

Yet there are some students who are not worried for themselves but for their friends and people they know as staff.

“Not too much because I think it is a lower chance of one of my teachers being cut but I think it is bad for a lot of students.” sophomore Caleb Klinger said.

These changes are going to take effect on September 12 and the district has given schools a transition day September 15th giving relocated staff time to figure adjust to changes. It is best that the students and other members of this community take this situation seriously and care for the people here at the village who will be impacted by these layoffs.