My first student protest

You never forget your first action.

Mr. Lopez taught 7th grade math at West Middle School in the Cherry Creek School District of suburban Denver.

It was a diverse demographic, with a mix of working class, some upper-middle-class and even very affluent families.

The kids of football players for the Broncos attended this school district. The children of John Elway and Mike Shanahan graduated from the high school.

Mr. Lopez was unlike many of the other teachers at the middle school.

He was relatively young, high energy, and Latino.

He wore black Oakleys, talking and joking with the boys.

Sometimes, he even played basketball at recess after lunch.

One day, near the end of the school day late in the spring semester, an administrator walked into his classroom, during on-going instruction.

The administrator approached him, whispered something into his ear, and left.

Mr. Lopez maintained his composure until he couldn’t, then covered his face, broke down in tears, and fled the room, interrupting the class, and leaving students alone.

This sequence of events led to him divulging what the administrator had whispered into his ear.

A decision had been reached, and his teaching contract would not be renewed.

Mr. Lopez was forced to share all of this because middle school students are very persistent and had to know the reason for the drama.

The kids were angry.

The kids really liked Mr. Lopez.

The kids enjoyed learning math from Mr. Lopez.

Almost no middle school kid enjoys learning math.

The students saw injustice.

The administration had not only arrived at the incorrect conclusion (i.e. to not renew Mr. Lopez’ contract), they had also fumbled the appropriate way to convey that news (i.e. career-altering information during class).

So, the 7th graders organized a protest.

After recess, the students refused to go back into the school.

It was a sit-out.

The students sat on the grass field inside the track.

I don’t recall who were main leaders or organizers.

I don’t remember any outsider agitators.

The demand was to renew the contract of Mr. Lopez.

The administrators insisted that was not going to happen.

It seemed as if this impromptu student protest had hardened the stance of administration to not renew the contract.

It began to dawn on the kids that the student protest seemed to have made life even harder for Mr. Lopez.

Administrators came out to plead with the students to return to their classes.

Their patience ran thin.

Eventually, they began threatening students with suspension if they did not return.

The prospect of consequences provoked a ripple through the crowd of kids.

The protest broke.

In waves, the students broke off and returned to scheduled classes.

The kids were proud for taking a principled stand, but dejected that it had been all for naught.

But, the incident couldn’t remain unaddressed.

Later, a meeting was announced to be held after school with any students that wished to attend.

Mr. Lopez spoke and expressed his deep gratitude to students for their actions and desire to help.

His voice cracked with emotion when he spoke.

The administrators also expressed appreciation to students for making their feelings known.

They admitted to screwing up the process and timing of notifying Mr. Lopez of the news.

Best practices were not followed.

Mr. Lopez did not return.