Students in NJ walk out over education cuts
PATERSON (WABC) -- For the second time this week, students in New Jersey walked out of classrooms in protest of Governor Chris Christie's education cuts.
There were protests in Orange and Paterson Thursday, both in response to Christie's cuts and his asking teachers to agree to a pay freeze. But they were very different protests.In Orange, several hundred students walked peacefully. There were some rowdy kids, but for the most part, the demonstration was orderly. There were teachers among the students for crowd control, but what made this walkout interesting was that the school principal also participated. Principal Erica Stewart was walking with the kids in support of what they were doing.
"I'm supporting the students because they have made their voices heard," she said. "This is not something that they were put up to. This is something that they actually believe in. They really appreciate and love their teachers, and we're trying to accommodate them in an orderly fashion. They have guaranteed they will be returning to school, so we wanted to recognize their right to assemble."
In Paterson, however, Eyewitness News is told the demonstration was not orderly at all. Several hundred kids walked out of school for about an hour. Police at one point tried to contain many of the kids to the football field, but some started to climb an 8-foot tall fence. Authorities say some kids began throwing trash cans in the street and at houses.
The Paterson principal did not walk with her students, and at one point came outside and yelled to them that they would be arrested if they didn't go back