Philadelphia Students Make A Call For Full, Fair Funding For Schools At District Headquarters

By Dan Wing

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A group of students made a call for full and fair funding for Philadelphia schools by staging a demonstration at the school district headquarters Monday evening. The students were also there to honor the 60th anniversary of Brown vs. the Board of Education, which put an end to segregation in schools.

The symbolic demonstration organized by Youth United for Change started with nearly 20 students holding a sit-in, but they were peacefully moved out front by police after about 30 minutes. Many of them upset with the conditions like the ones Thomas Alva Edison student Katherine experienced at the start of the school year.

(credit: Dan Wing/KYW)

“Staff wasn’t there, our office staff was running around like crazy, teachers couldn’t even teach cause classrooms went up to a bigger size,” says Katherine.

This senior at Kensington Creative and Performing Arts Center did her senior project on the affect of the school budget cuts, and the results showed her that the cuts are hurting some kids more than others.

“We learned that the budget cuts affect mostly, and hurt mostly the minorities,” she says.

All of the demonstrators wanted to ask the School District and state officials why so many cuts. Calvin goes to Thomas Alva Edison High School, and he wants better dialogue between the school district and students.

“I want a response. Because it’s necessary. We need to know why you’re doing such a thing that harms not just the school system, but the whole environment,” says Calvin.

The event was the kick off for what Youth United for Change is calling a week of action and a “protest escalation” that includes a march to Washington, D.C.