Case Students Walk Out to Protest Walker's Bill

Students walked out of JI Case High School to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill at about 2 p.m. today.

Students chanted, “Kill the bill,” and held up signs that said, “Support our teachers.”

The walk out was organized on Facebook and about 100 students left class. Several police officers were in their cars in the parking lot, but no tickets were issued to the protesters.

Terrance Kelly, a junior at the school, said the group wanted to support the teachers.

“It’s an option, but not the best option,” Kelly said referring to the bill. “Maybe if he would have thought about it more and considered the other aspects of it, that he could have come up with something everyone could have agreed on.”

On Thursday, over 400 teachers called in sick to school to .

Staff absenteeism at the Racine Unified School District was slightly higher than
normal on Friday, said spokeswoman Stacy Tapp.

The school district Friday had 250 absences, including 162 teachers. Tapp said
that a typical Friday has about 175 to 185 absences while a high Friday absentee
rate during times like seasonal flu, which is happening at this time, would be
about 200 to 225 employees.
Classes were canceled on Thursday when about 400 of the district's 1,640
teachers called in sick or took a personal day. Tapp said that RUSD officials
haven't yet decided when students will make up Thursday's canceled classes.
RUSD's school year has already been extended by one day to make up for the
closure caused by the Feb. 2 blizzard.

Racine Unified School District Superintendent James Shaw had a for teachers Friday: Show up to work next week, or you may face disciplinary action.