LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As the battle wages on between the Clark County School District and the Clark County Education Association, some students are now weighing in on the issue.
On Wednesday, Sept. 20, hundreds of students at Clark High School walked out of school around 9:20 and staged a demonstration just outside the school building. Many held signs with slogans supporting educators and chanted things like, "Help them help us."
HAPPENING NOW: Group of students forming outside Clark High School, rallying in support of teachers amid the ongoing battle between CCEA & CCSD @KTNV pic.twitter.com/jOTClhOtOy
— Anjali Patel (@AnjaliPatelTV) September 20, 2023
The rally lasted around 30 minutes, with the crowd swelling to several hundred kids, before students were ushered back inside.
Junior Karen Wu helped spearhead the effort to organize in support of teachers. She said the idea was born just a few days prior, and she was pleasantly surprised by the amount of students who showed up after they floated the idea on social media.
"Teachers are what make their students, and if we want our students to do well, teachers have to do well, too," Wu said. "Our teachers work so much already, and not paying what they deserve is truly disheartening."
Senior Brayson Holmes said investing in educators means investing in students.
Students chanting “fair pay for teachers” outside Clark HS right now @KTNV pic.twitter.com/i1qPmBeUdK
— Anjali Patel (@AnjaliPatelTV) September 20, 2023
"We want to incentivize teachers to give their all to us. We have a bunch of teachers who put in more than we ask of them, but we want to make sure that's as prevalent as possible. By getting fair pay for them, by getting time and a half for overtime hours, by increasing the perks and benefits they get, we're able to get the teachers more invested in our success," Holmes said. "These are the people who write our letters of recommendation, coach our sports teams, advise our clubs, help us get into universities, jobs, apprenticeship programs, that kind of thing. By helping teachers get a fair wage, we're also helping our kids succeed."
Holmes and Wu said the students entirely organized this effort, and they hope to do more to advocate for their educators in the future. Wu said that could involve going to school board meetings.
Holmes said teachers' unions are often villainized, and he hopes this demonstration will show that there are students who stand in solidarity with CCEA.
"Teachers unions suffer from this demonization issue, right? This portrait that's painted of them, 'Oh, you're taking the education away from our students, you're harming our students.' This is us demonstrating that the students support that. The teachers' unions aren't harming us, and they aren't attacking the students or making us suffer in any way. In actuality, we support what they're advocating for," Holmes said.
