nothin Creed Walks Out | New Haven Independent

Creed Walks Out

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Students at Cortlandt V.R. Creed Thursday got an early start on leaving their school. They attended a session about the Board of Education’s plans to close the inter district magnet high school this coming academic year to save money. (Read about that here.) Then the students staged a walkout for 26 minutes. Creed junior Aurea Bianca Orencia sent in the following write-up about why the students walked out:

Despite some hesitations of getting wet in the rain, a majority of the students at Creed walked out to say a statement to the board: education should see no color.

Although the budget cut was the main reason that we’re closing down, officials also stated that it is also because we were not in compliance with the reduced isolation act. They don’t want to put us all in one school, because that would further skew the data since other schools are also not in compliance with the 25 percent racially diverse law.

Today, the district sent someone to help us with our transition to other New Haven schools. They arrived at the school around 9 a.m. We walked out at 9:30.

Before the walk out began, we had class meetings with them. At first, a woman started giving the students packets by individually calling their name. She stated that it’s because she wants us to know that she cares for each of us individually. Not even half way through the names, she got tired, and asked the principal to give the packets to us instead.

During the question portion of the meeting, we asked for her consent to take videos of her answering our questions so that we could show her answers to our parents. However, she politely declined and claimed that there will be another meeting, but now with the parents in a later date.

One of the questions a student asked her was: Because I’m Asian, and the district have to meet the 25 percent quota, does that mean my seat is prioritized compared to my Black and Hispanic friends?” We were told that race/ethnicity will not have any effect on the chances of students getting into another school. It will be really interesting to see which students get into their school choices and which would be put into Cross and Hillhouse.

At 9:30, the students walked out in the rain, standing together as a pack, as a family. We stood outside in the rain — some had umbrellas, some had hoodies, and some had nothing to cover them up. People were drenched, but we all walked together to the front of our building with different posters that voices out our frustrations with the board’s decision.

We stayed outside for about 26 minutes. That’s for the 26 years that Hyde/Creed has been opened. That’s for the 26 years that it has provided students from different backgrounds with the opportunity to have an education, and have another place to call home.

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