An Open Letter to the People of Washington State

To Whom It May Concern:

            At today’s student walkout from Garfield, we demonstrated that this state’s students care about their education, and are not afraid to advocate for it. A diverse crowd of hundreds, which included students who attend schools other than Garfield arrived at City Hall and made its demands to the state legislature. We have been described as nothing but peaceful and well behaved, garnering positive attention from multiple media sources and demonstrating the power of an active body of students.

            In response to this outpouring of support for what may be one of the most pressing issues of our time, the organizers of this march are creating a new student advocacy and protest movement known as Students of Washington for Change, or SWaC. We are not affiliated with the occupy movement, we are only students looking out for other students.

For the present, we will continue our focus on preventing cuts to educational programs across the state. We will ensure that a quality education is guaranteed to every student in Washington State. We also hope that this organization will expand beyond Garfield and the Seattle Public Schools. We want this to be a state wide student movement

For the future, we hope that this organization will persist as a group to advocate for student interests, and when need be, protest to support the issues.

For more information we direct you to our website studentsofwashington.blogspot.com

We will also be posting about budget issues from our twitter @FundtheFutureWA

Please direct all questions to our email studentsofwaforchange@gmail.com

Thank you, and please continue your support of student issues.

Students of Washington for Change

GHS Walk Out - Press Release

We are Garfield High School students, speaking on behalf of and with Seattle Public Schools students tired of the constant cuts to our education. We are the people who have been affected most by these cuts, and we are showing that we care. For too long, this state's budget has been balanced on the backs of its students. Apparently, our representatives in Olympia have forgotten that the constitution says that funding education is this state's paramount duty. This is a student voice reminding our legislature of that fact. And also of this one: We are this country's future. We will vote. And we will hold them accountable.

We will walk out of Garfield High School on Wednesday the 30th of November at 12:30 PM to march to City Hall and tell the world that we are fed up with the lack of funding for education.

We have two primary goals we hope to accomplish:

- We want to stop the constant cuts to education that have hurt our school and other schools in the state.

- We want to insert a student voice into the political discourse in issues regarding education.

Following are our grievances, things that have already happened as a result of past cuts:

- Students who want full schedules have been denied them due to a lack of teachers. Many seniors were denied a science class due to a complete lack of state science funding.

- Academic courses, such as math classes, have been repeatedly cut from our school.

- The removal of summer school and night school has removed resources that allowed many students to graduate on time, therefore effectively increasing the amount the state must spend on those students.

Join the movement, spread the word, get active.