‘WE WANT TO
High school students stage walkout over
Students walk out of Brooklyn Technical High School to demand a remote learning option and better safety protocols. Photo by Adrian Childress
BY ISABEL SONG BEER, ADRIAN
CHILDRESS AND DEAN MOSES
Students at Brooklyn Technical
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High School, along with
their counterparts at Stuyvesant
High School in Manhattan,
staged a walkout on Jan.
11 to demand online learning
options and safer classrooms
as COVID-19 cases continue to
spread across the city.
“The Department of Education
cited a district-wide absentee
rate of about 55.5 percent on
Friday, Jan. 7.” said Movement
of Rank and Educators, United
Federation of Teachers (MOREUFT),
in a statement Jan. 10.
Prior to the pandemic, normal
daily attendance rates were
about 91 percent.
The students demanded
that NYC public offi cials, and
Mayor Eric Adams, offer what
they believe are necessary remote
learning options and more
stringent COVID-19 health protocols.
Coordinated by three
Stuyvesant High School juniors
who were uncomfortable
with the lack of virtual options
offered to students amidst the
rise of the Omicron variant,
Rifah Saba, 17, Samantha Farrow,
16, and Cruz Warshaw, 16,
created social media accounts
on Instagram, Facebook, and
Twitter to organize the citywide
walkout.
After uploading their fi rst
post on Jan. 6 promoting a walkout,
they quickly connected
with students from Brooklyn
Technical High School reached
out to them and helped spread
the news — igniting a spark of
advocacy throughout the fi ve
boroughs.
Warshaw complained for
weeks to family members regarding
Mayor Eric Adams decision
to keep schools open following
the winter break, despite
the rising number of COVID-19
positivity cases among students
and teachers. After talking
with her mother about staging
a walkout in her school, she
teamed up with her classmates
Saba and Farrow.
“When Cruz had asked me
to be a part of this, my dad had
COVID, but I was still forced to
come to school,” said Saba. “I
thought that was ridiculous because
I could be asymptomatic
and infect other people. So I got
involved.”
Farrow’s brother also
caught COVID-19, and she was
forced to attend classes. While
she has noted some teachers
quietly offered their support,
she thinks that the school administration
did allow faculty
to openly share their opinions.
Additionally, some fellow students
were simply indifferent
about the cause.
“I felt really hopeless at the
time because we are the people
who have to go to school and
risk catching COVID-19 and
bring it back to our families. We
don’t have a say as to whether
we could go back to school or if
we had other options,” Farrow
said.
The walkout took place simultaneously
at Stuyvesant
High School and Brooklyn
Technical High School at 11:52
am on Jan. 11, while also igniting
the participation of several
other schools throughout the
city. Many of the participating
schools permitted the walkout
but required permission slips
from parents or legal guardians.
As they marched into the
blistering cold, various students
spoke to amNewYork Metro regarding
their grievances.
“I personally live with four
high risk individuals myself,”
said Brooklyn Tech sophomore
Joyce Lee. “Every time I go to
school I risk not only my life,
but their lives as well.”
Mayor Adams has repeat-
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