I think the most successful thing about the walkout and everything leading up to it was
the board meeting where we had everybody and the Board of Ed, we stuffed the Board of Ed
and we had to move to the auditorium.
I guess basically when I came back to school following break and there was the whole assembly
and the outcry following the assembly or excuse for an assembly, however you view it, I started
kind of questioning people to get their reactions to it and I started talking with administrators
in the building, had a social studies department, teachers who were supposed to be involved
with the original assembly program to try and find out what happened and when I realized
that a lot of what the formal administration was saying wasn't necessarily accurate, that's
when I spoke with the different people at MLK and kind of got on board and tried to I mean
I guess get as much support on board with them as I could bring.
I went from one place to another from one place to another, I got a lot of thank you and a lot
of people who came to say things such as that, we are here tonight to demand will you stop
talking and start to use that.
The HSA which has been a really excellent parent group that helped us with lots of events,
they had a round table planned for that day for something like six months, they have round
tables I think once a season.
I think everyone who attended the round table that night thought that they were going to
get answers and that for once everything was going to be exposed and explained.
Boy this is a big group and we want to move to smaller group discussions, basically you'll
see who you are and we want to look at what should be a collective vision for CHS.
Sitting down and being at the round table everyone soon found out that it was this choreographed
kind of meeting that had topics that were completely irrelevant to the environment of
the school and things that were happening in the school.
So we're going to ask you to work at your table answering these questions, what is the
vision, what goals should we be working toward between now and 2011, we want you to list
three goals and what can we do over the next five years to realize this vision and this
goal.
People wanted to hijack that round table.
This is our job to come up with ideas.
That's what we thought we were coming for with that one and just that.
I don't know where you got that idea.
I hear what you're saying.
I put it in there and said it was urgent and that's why I said it was urgent.
We were at small group discussions with the issues we were discussed in the small group
discussion centered around what was planned.
Now if we, excuse me, I have a clue, if we want to have another forum and we can get a
group of people to work on that, by all means we will do that.
But we are going to follow this agenda.
So I appreciate anyone who wants to work within the framework that has been established
and is not.
You know what?
Excuse me.
I'm not going to argue with you.
You know what?
We are going to work on these issues and we will, anyone who wants to work on another form to address the issues that we think we should address, and I don't mind, we'll have a work session.
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Though it's important to have protests where you feel like you've disenfranchised, this round table was something totally separate and it was the wrong spot for protest.
Why don't you say anything? You want to know why?
They want to paint you, they want to say you because of the color of your skin. You're just going to ditch. You don't really have any political integrity or academic integrity.
That's what they want to do. So when you're not, I beg of you, whatever you do, do not live up to that whole shit.
The majority of the students left and went to the classroom and had their own meeting with board members in there, board members were there, and parents were there, and teachers were there.
And then another small group of parents and whoever else wanted to stay, stayed and got in groups and came up with the plan.
I just want to break out now because that's why I'm here, because I want to know what's going on. I want to know why, and I support my child. She feels that she needs to walk out, then fine.
So there are some other issues that are also things that our young people are undergoing here. This environment of corrections, this is not a prison, this is a school, a place to come and learn and learn.
And the adult care, the teachers, I don't send my child here for you to raise my child. I send my child here to get an education. I raise my child at home.
The other round table, they sort of finished their agenda. We got some great ideas on the table about maybe getting a junior board member.
I was able to talk to Dr. Hiroshak during the split, because he was like, you know, chaos, and I was like, oh, well, here's an opportunity. This guy's got to answer some questions today.
And they sort of just like sort of stoked the fire, getting ready for the walkout.
The Friday morning protest that was in front of the Board of Education building was something that was planned.
I think for the first time in a very long time, we saw our students, both black and white, Chinese, Asian, whatever, you know, finally, you know, come together, even for the littlest time and say, you know, there's something wrong.
What do y'all want to see?
Change it, change it, change it, change it, change it, change it, change it!
I have a bucket! I have a bucket! I have a bucket! I have a bucket! I have a bucket! I have a bucket!
Regardless of how, you know, what position I have right now, there is still something wrong.
So I think that it was actually a great turnout. Students had signs, students were making signs in the morning.
It turned out to be something completely amazing.
I got an email from Melissa Montalvo to sort of a blanky email explaining how people were angry and they wanted to do something about it.
It gave the date, I think it was March 12th or 22nd for the walkout.
And from then I called Melissa, asked her some questions and to be honest we had a lot of points of disagreement
but I think we had a shared purpose of trying to change the way the school is run, especially from the top down.
I believed in most of what was being said in the walkout but I did not believe that the walkout was the best way to achieve the goals
because I really don't think that there was a goal of the walkout.
I think that the walkout was more to gain the student voice and I guess in my experience I had a voice.
People were angry, there was going to be a walkout and I decided that my role from that point on was to decide what sort of walkout are we going to have.
Is it going to be a walkout just aimed at the principal? Is it going to be a walkout that's aimed at changing some rules in the system?
Is it a walkout aimed at just showing that we're upset?
March 2019, we had our big protest, the one that's been all over the news and all in Star Ledger.
It was that day that that in specific was planned months in advance.
We all decided that at 10.10 we would all meet outside on the front line of Columbia High School and do our demonstration.
I'm not going to lie, I was so scared.
I came up to the building and I had my shirt on and I had the official documents that we were supposed to send to the board office and issue to the media.
It was our official statement calling for Miss Pollock's resignation.
At first I had thought that this was completely crazy.
I thought that, you know, who was I and who was anyone else to try to bring a movement that was so similar to the movements in the 60s, you know, try to bring that out again.
If you leave your class, you will be more cutting. Nobody, nobody wants anything but the best for the students of Columbia High School.
If indeed I need to increase my communication with different cohorts in this school, then that's what will happen.
We did have a meeting at 7.30. There are additional meetings. The subcommittee is meeting again to put the finishing touches on the Black History Assembly.
Things are settled around a table where people respect each other and can agree to disagree but certainly come together to make things better in our community.
I welcome this opportunity. I invite anybody who would like to have a conversation with me as long as it's respectful to please seek out that conversation.
I say this to you in the most convincingly and honest way. Let's have a safe day. Let's have a productive day at Columbia High School. Thank you.
I just, I thought that it wasn't going to work the way I, you know, and other students had planned it to be. But on my way out, I realized that I was not the only one walking out.
All right. Listen up, listen up. If you're not a speaker, but listen once everybody to stay along the Black Path, you can go all the way to the sidewalk.
But if you're not a speaker, stay right here. And when everyone starts coming out and telling people to spread the word, just say stay along here.
Don't come on this part of the way. All right.
This protest is not the only one. All of you who are conscious are going to have to protest all your life. And all of this stuff is not coming just from this pollock.
It's coming from George Bush. It's coming from the whole Republican society.
You have to be here for the opportunity. I hope that I see you again. The revolution is a good thing. Today is a good thing. When this country is set in the 60s, a man named Matthew Trump used to say,
countries want independence. Nations want liberation. And the people want revolution. Just bring it back to that. Just bring it back to that.
Thank you very much.
We are all out here for change.
If y'all going outside, please sit on the grass or close to the grass if possible.
I was in a level 5 math class last year and I level dropped to a level 4 math class and I achieved good enough grades to become an AP student this year. So it's not about the administration keeping black students down. It's about people not working hard enough and not sticking up for themselves academically to get themselves where they want to be.
Estimates are 30% of the 2,000 students at Columbia High turned out for the day long protest. The majority of them are minorities and they're calling for the removal of their principal, Renee Pollock, whom they claim has made racially insensitive comments.
She said that it's a statistic that a majority of African Americans are fathers. Black children are fathers. And I feel as an educator, she should not be giving that message.
Students are engaged and I think it's for the most part positive that they take an interest and they want to deal with it.
Some parents say they'll deal with it beginning with school board elections in April. Pat Battle, News Channel 4.
