UPPER LAKE ? Approximately 100 students walked off of the Upper Lake High School campus Wednesday to protest state budget cuts that are affecting the school”s music program.
“Hear our voices, we want choices,” was the chant as approximately 100 students marched down the dirt shoulder of Second Street to the town”s Main Street, then back to the school on the dirt shoulder of First Street.
They wore T-shirts they had painted and carried signs they had made, both bearing messages of protest against budget cuts that have hurt the school”s electives. One student beat a marching cadence on a drum during the walkout while onlookers asked what was going on and drivers edged carefully around the group, some of them honking in support.
The half-hour walkout took place at noon, during the school”s lunch period. The students wore T-shirts they had painted and carried signs they had made, both bearing messages of protest against budget cuts that have hurt the school”s electives.
Dennis Schebler, 19, wore a T-shirt that listed the classes and programs ULHS lost to budget cuts during recent years, written in marker: auto shop, computer-aided drafting, metal shop, woodshop, advanced placement classes and behind-the-wheel driver training.
A group of students staged the demonstration after learning the school”s music teacher was one of five teachers to receive lay-off notices this year. The teacher heads the school”s band, choir and drama classes.
Walking behind the group, ULHS Principal and district Superintendent Patrick Iaccino said the school has another teacher with a music credential, and the layoff did not have to mean the end of the school”s music program.
Iaccino said he supported the students” effort, but said state budget cuts were only part of the school”s financial problems.
The school receives average daily attendance (ADA) funding from the state, which Iaccino said is approximately $40 per student for every day of attendance. He said students are absent approximately 10 percent of the time, and that costs the school approximately $160,000 in ADA funding.
“I don”t want students to think that they should be at school if they are sick or if there is a death in the family, but I think there is a percentage of students who are just not at school. If more students would attend school, we could continue to provide programs,” Iaccino said.
Iaccino said the protest didn”t threaten ADA funding, which is lost only when a student is absent for a whole day. He said none of the students who participated in the protest would be disciplined for violating the school”s closed-campus policy.
Iaccino said he would discuss the students” concerns during a meeting of the Upper Lake Union High School District Board of Directors, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. the day of the protest. He said the board planned to review its budget and finalize 11 layoffs, including six certificated positions and five classified positions.
Contact Tiffany Revelle at trevelle@record-bee.com, or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
