Plans by Marlette High School students over the past week to stage a Friday walk-out in protest of staffing issues in the district were dashed by a letter home to students on Thursday night.
Written by Principal Jessica Owens, the letter addressed the “rumored” walk-out, which was to be held on Friday morning around 11:15 a.m., suggesting an alternate instead. “To facilitate a safe demonstration and to show we support our students, we’re allowing [them] to be heard,” she wrote, with students being allowed to leave class at 11:30 to come to the school gym and express their concerns into a provided microphone for ten minutes, until 11:40 a.m., when students would be required back in class.
Several parents took to social media on Thursday night to express their disappointment with the district, with one concerned parent telling Sanilac Broadcasting that several teachers had told her son, a senior on the cross-country team, that anyone who participated in the walk-out would be slapped with a one-day suspension for “skipping class,” as well as be barred from participating in their next team sport event.
On Friday morning, reporters with WMIC News and other Thumb-area media outlets arrived at the school to cover the student demonstration but were turned away by Principal Owen, who would not comment on the matter and insisted that permission for non-students to attend would need to be acquired through the superintendent (despite one reporter’s repeated attempts to do just that and not receiving any response).
The student-planned walkout follows the resignation of at least 20 staff members since February 2022, with five high school teachers leaving since May. The most recent departure, Mrs. Kristen Behnke, a teacher for the junior/senior high, submitted her resignation at the October 10 board of education meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for November 14.
