Panthers protest change

On Wednesday afternoon about 35 to 40 Milton High School students walked out of class in protest to the change in high school start times for next year.

The Santa Rosa County School Board, faced with serious shortfalls in next year’s budget, had some tough decisions to make in order to conform to the financial deficits.

One of the changes voted on by the board was the transition to a three-tier bussing system. This system required modifying the start times of schools in order to allow busses to transport elementary, middle, and high school students in consolidated bus routes.

Elementary start times will be at 7:15 a.m. for most schools, most middle schools will start at 8:15 a.m., and most high schools will start at 9:15 a.m.

The main issue of the students have with the change in scheduling is the conflict with their jobs, for those who work, and the difficulties resulting from those who are involved in sports and other extracurricular activities after school.

Milton High Principal Buddy Powell says the administration at the school found out about the planned protest a few minutes before it occurred and they were able to have staff standing out in the halls to stop the students from leaving campus.

“We had about 35 to 40 kids walk out of class in protest of the school start times for next year.

“We found out about their [students] plans and we were able to be ready to turn them around and send them back to class.
“About 95 percent of the students did return to class with no further issues.

“The kids were not disrespectful to anyone, really,” says Powell.

Powell says the incident actually gave him the opportunity to open dialogue with the students on Thursday morning.

“I addressed the student body this morning on the intercom system and I explained the situation with the school board’s decision.
“I told them that Florida was in a desperate situation with the budget and something had to be done.

“I also told them I understood why they had done what they did, but there is a right way and a wrong way to handle things. They chose the wrong way and there are consequences for doing things the wrong way,” says Powell.

“I told them, If you want to do this the right way, I will do what ever I can to help you to be heard, I will even have the board and other district personnel on hand to listen.”

Powell says the students will be disciplined according to the code of conduct. The students face punishment for leaving class without permission.

“I understand some people getting involved in this aren’t even attending school anymore, some are alumni-former Milton High Students,” says Powell.

He also said the students were using Myspace to plan the protest.

Powell says he backs the school board in its decision.

“I know every person sitting on that board and every one of them cares about our students. They made the best decision they could make and I support them,” says Powell. “We are fortunate to have members of the school board who care about our kids and make the best decisions for the kids.”

Principal of Pace High School Frank Lay says so far his school is not experiencing any discipline problems as a result of the schedule changes.
“So far so good, we haven’t really had a problem.

“We have talked about the changes on ITV (the television channel for the school that is broadcast internally), and we have talked with the Student Government.

“Some kids like it [the new start time], some kids don’t.

“There are a lot of questions and the biggest thing is all of the unknowns, but thank God we haven’t had any problems with discipline or anything like that,” says Lay.

The principals at Navarre High and Gulf Breeze High say they have not had any issues, either.

Jay High School and Central High School will not be affected by the start time changes next year due to their unique transportation situations and the fact they have a smaller student population.