Hopefully if the kids have cell phone cameras they will supply their own media so the truth can be known.

At about 8:55 at least 200 students staged a sit-in at gulf coast in protest of the change in schedule next year. After approximately 30 minutes the group disbanded after being threatened to be maced by police. Supposedly, the students will attempt again after lunch hour. The event was filmed for our T.V. Production class.

Oh yes, i do hope they all get suspended. Seeing as their whole concern is the soon to be diminished quality of their education, and the lack of credits they will be capable of recieving, putting them at a disadvantage to the competition when time comes to apply to college, taking these academically concerned students out of school on zero tolerance suspension, in which they cannot make up their work, would be ever so fitting.

I am sure the teachers did nothing to stop this and probally encouraged it. Suspend the kids and fire any teacher that supported the walkout. I bet it will not happen again!

Just like my old college days in the late '60's! Storm the ad center. Let's have a sit-in protest! Let the bourgeois administration know how we feel! We ain't gonna take these changes lying down! It's a real bummer man! Too bad these kids will probably be suspended. There are better ways to get your concerns recognized peacefully. Good luck kids!

AT LEAST 200 students. However the supposed attempt after lunch is a spin off by people who just want to skip class, it isn't supported and hopefully dosen't occur. We already proved our point.

I heard on TV the school administration was threatening to take their cell phones and delete their pictures and videos of the event, trying to suppress the truth and stifle dissent.

It was not a walk-out. It was a 20 minute sit-in.

Many phones and cameras were taken and pictures deleted, but some got out and pictures have been sent to Naples Daily News

Sure hope they don't call in the National Guard! One Kent State was enough!

RighT On!! Revolucid.. Many of you think that these kids are just causing trouble.. get educated know the facts about what is really happening to them and the education system here and THEN voice your opinion.. read the comment from revolucid.
Seeing as their whole concern is the soon to be diminished quality of their education, and the lack of credits they will be capable of recieving, putting them at a disadvantage to the competition when time comes to apply to college, taking these academically concerned students out of school on zero tolerance suspension, in which they cannot make up their work, suspension???? would be ever so fitting. On second thought please don't voice your unworthy comments Do you even have kids in the school district.. that's another prerequisite for having an opinion..

<sarcasm>

entaylor1: Please know that anyone paying property TAXES has a stake in Collier County Public school system. Why? The vast majority of the money collected by the Tax collector goes to fund the schools. We pay for the students, the teachers, the building upkeep and the like. Tallahassee and Washington send money too, but that money comes from the people who pay taxes. So, it matters not if a person has a student in this system, we all have a stake in the schools and the products produced by them.

Products? Yep, hopefully students who will gain an education sufficient to give them entry skills into trades, further education and successful careers which will make them self sufficient and able to give back to the future generations.

A sit in isn't the worst thing students could do. If they can muster support from their parents and community to put pressure on our School Board and the administration in another way it might be more successful. Doing this once does get a point across. But once that point is made it could be weakened if the kids go too far.

There are many voting taxpayers who are not happy with the way things are going in CCPS. I am one of those who feels the focus needs to get back to the classroom. The flipflopping of scheduling is not a productive move and hurts students in the long run.

Best of luck.

Oh yes, pictures got out and anyone who says it was two dozen students is lying. This staged "sit-in" was in the courtyard of the school and involved hundreds of students.

entaylor1 - the quality of education in this county has already diminished. The argument that teachers and students are voicing in favor of block scheduling is weak at best. OF COURSE they are all in favor of it because they have more time to do NOTHING!! I know, because I have two children who attend GCHS! These kids have no clue what they're protesting for or about, it's just another excuse not to be in the classroom where they're supposed to be. And what's really sickening is the students' opinions on this issue are primarily shaped by what they hear from their DISGRUNTLED TEACHERS in the CLASSROOM!! Shame on GCHS administration and the District for allowing this to happen!

entaylor, I do not have kids in the school system but for decades I have been paying taxes for the school system and that is ALL the prerequisite I need to have an opinion on this issue. This walk-out shows the type of education the teachers are giving the kids. NONE! If we walked out of Naples High in 1974 when we were forced to have split sessions, we would have not been allowed to graduate. Teachers back then taught students to have respect and the proper way to dissent on the issues. Now, all the teachers are teaching the kids is how to complain!

Unfortunately, Radio, most of this learned behavior comes from Mommy and Daddy. By the time they get to high school, most of that is ingrained. Teachers usually can't change it.

I do agree ram, but when the kids are fed a daily dose of dissent from teachers 8 hours a day and hear nothing but complaints from those that are supposed to be mentors for these kids, it's hard not to put a great deal of responsibilty for the display of disrespect that was shown today by the kids, on the teachers.

Club them like baby seals in the courtyard!

The nerve that they try to get involved with their own educational opportunities.

I read 700 students participated, but with a school with a pop. of about 2,000 thats only about 30%. What about the other 70%?

AMEN RadioNews.

ramfan, I do agree that behavior is learned at home. I can also tell you that it takes CONSTANT effort to try and keep my kids focused on education, instead of the b.s. they are being fed in the classroom. We have some pretty good discussions at dinner time at my house, and I can tell you that even the kids get sick of hearing the teachers' whining in the classroom. Frankly I wouldn't be surprised if the teachers quietly encouraged this little event today. I'm constantly amazed at the lows they're willing to sink to, including using OUR CHILDREN to promote their cause.

This was all planned yesterday, kids were being text messaged to attend. Many of the kids actually want the 7 period day, they are used to it from middle school. The teachers are the ones causing all the trouble, in fact I bet several of the kids that spoke at the board meeting the other day were promised extra credit if they spoke, want to bet they weren't?

Suspend them.....life is tough... deal with it.... Fight for other real causes... Block schedule??? These kids don't know the meaning of "hardship". They probably all sat around their new vehicles from Mom and Dad. Give me a break...

Photos are here... looks like more than two dozen to me... http://www.nbc-2.com/FirstPerson/phot...

That photo was probably taken at change of class.

I heard that a certain Golden Apple winner viciously cursed at the students and blatently threatened to fail them if they didn't get their "burros" back in her "ffff" classroom. If a student remotely behaved in this manner they would be suspended. A teacher should never threaten or curse at their students much less threaten their grades. Why do you think certain cell phones were confiscated? The school is usually the first to impose discipline on the student that has violated CCPSC code of conduct. Will the teachers be held accountable? New video: Teachers behaving badly!

Mr. Hedgepath, Junior at GCHS, you shouldn't put your name on photos taken during the school day (nbc-2.com). You know your phones are not to be used during school. I would expect you will be getting a call to the office. Next time use John Doe, Junior GCHS.

I was at the protest. Not as a participant, but a mere observer. The students attended their nutrition break and then refused to go back to class. After a few minutes Principal Stump instructed the children which was more like a thousand, to return to their class. Students displayed total defiance and refused. Mr Stump tried every means to reason with the students including having the crowd addressed by the student class president who helped organize the event. Again, total defiance. I also witnessed some teachers clapping in support of the protest (sad). On the other hand, several teachers were actively assisting in trying to restore order. The demonstration was dispersed after some of the "troublemakers" began throwing objects, cursing, and inciting the crowd. The students that staged and participated in the "sit in" were not suspended. The students that displayed defiant behavior were suspended. The deputies that assisted in restoring the order were very professional and did not ever threaten anyone with violence, or pepper spray as mentioned earlier. If the students want to show their passion for the cause, then show up at the school board meeting. School is no place to protest anyone's agenda PERIOD! Shame on the press for attempting to sneak on campus and sell newspapers. Again, I was there, this is what happened. By the way, if Mr Stump wanted to play hard ball he could have pushed for disruption of school, or even unlawfully assembly when these children refused to disperse. Glad to see he is a reasonable person. I just hope the parents and students respect that, and support his efforts in a very difficult situation. Good job Mr. Stump for making our school the very best.

time for the administration to get a recent yearbook out and start identifying the students who are in the photos that have been emailed to the local NBC station! Call them in one at a time and administer their "just" punishment! Do we give Johnny Smith 1 day ISS or 10 days Enhanced Assist? What about cute little Sally Brown- we'll just give her a detention ( her mom volunteers here every Friday in the main office- we need to be lenient with her). Good luck administering "just" and "EQUAL" punishment. Hey- "my kid got 10 days OSS and yours only got a 30 minute detention" What gives here"?

This one of the few demonstrations of sound critical thinking skills we have seen in awhile. We need to understand students are not simply passive consumers or "heads full of mush" as Rush Limbaugh is fond of saying. They need to be encouraged to think, and as they get older, be given increasing latitude to participate in community dialogue.
Better this than mindless compliance.

Ecoterror: Surely, you meant "dissent," as it is physically impossible to voice one's descent. Oh, and unless the rules of grammar have changed, one does not end a sentence with "out." I'm just returning the oh-so-generous favor you regularly perform for us ignorant Americans.

Actually Radio et al, this is exactly the type of education we should be teaching our young people; we protect freedom of expression ESPECIALLY when it is in opposition to power. This is what makes our nation free. This is the purpose of our constitution. We will not tolerate living in a dictatorship. This school board has been imposing its dictates in direct opposition to the wishes of the community as expressed through numerous forums. That the students most affected by these dictates choose to peacably make a statement is an actualization of freedom of speech.
E. Pluribus Unum

Most of you people are complete idiots, painfully stupid idiots. These kids made a peaceful gesture, a show of unity on something they believe strongly in and your little minds can't grasp the importance of these kids understanding their civil liberties. They obviously aren't being heard in the school board meetings, not by that group of clowns so what other choice do they really have? I wish the teachers would join them, but hey you guys just keep supporting the morons running the show, status quo is all you can understand.

rahga: I would wholeheartedly agree with your statment if mindless compliance was not what the majority of the students WAS performing. They were simply complying mindlessly with a core group of students rather than authority figures. Most who then refused to go to back to class or descended into non-peaceful acts were doing so as a means to display defiance simply for the sake of defiance. Critical thinking skills???? For most of today's youth, an abysmal lack of critical thinking skills is a more appropriate assessment.

So the Inmates are Running the Asylum.

This is exactly the kind of action that DOES bring attention to your cause and get your opinion heard. Have any of you Authoritarians read Civil Disobedience lately?

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcenden...

I have absolutely no problem with this.
Who knew kids today could be passionate about their own future.
Most of the posts here apparently want them to to be the nice little lambs lead to slaughter.
"back in 74".....you mean before PC's and microwaves and cable tv?Now that I look at it, did you have electricity??
I'm sure the guilty parties will be rightfully punished. But I'm happy to see the kids FINALLY care about SOMETHING worthwhile.
p.s. some of you really need to come out of your caves.

Sorry I messed up the link:

http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcenden...

CaptSam: I can see you're as oblivious as usual. Something they believe in strongly? For a core group that was exactly the case...for the rest this was simply a lark.

I think the walkout IS the protest.

What boggles my mind is that in Indiana I was on the period schedule and graduated with 52 credits. How is it that they have managed to increase the amount of classes taken but still reduce the amount of credits given?

It doesn't matter if they carried signs or had flowers in their hair, everyone knows what they want and why they did it.

I'm sure that if they were asked to attend the boardmeeting (on there own time) there would have been maybe a few dozen. I remember fire drills. I loved them, just to get out of class.

As most above have said CONGRATS to the kids for showing interest in your own education. Those that want you punished for that, are ignorant in their own right and most likely look "and" smell like Dennis Thompson, Calabrese, Donoidiot, and Linda/Charlie Wacko.

How about another high school tomorrow. Better yet all of them at the same time!!!

DON'T FORGET THE SCHOOL BOARD MTG TOMORROW AT 3:00. BRING ALL YOUR FRIENDS TO THE MEETING. FILL THE PARKING LOT. TV CAMERAS WILL BE EVERYWHERE. Show the 4 fools we are done letting them ruin our schools.

yeah i go to gulf coast and the tacktics we used are no diffrent from the civil rights leaders so you say we should get suspended well then your sayin that the civil rights leaders should have been arrested for what they belive in

For Hockey 06 -You should have obviously stayed in English class.

look, it was peaceful. i was in the room but i knew people who participated. i know some people who organized it. they wanted to make a point and did so peacefully. thats why they were SITTING DOWN. i know there are so many things going on outside of school that makes it hard to get to the meetings. plus, people have already tried that and it didnt work. anyways, take it for what its worth.

It pains me to see that people view teenagers in such a bad light. I participated in the sit-in and I'll have you know that this was organized BY STUDENTS without the influence of parents or teachers. It also bothers me that most of you aren't well-informed about the cause for this protest. If you guys bothered to go to school board meetings then you would know the issues at hand.

Rather than criticize the protest you should praise it because it shows that a lot of students are concerned about education. As an AP and honors student, it's going to be really tough to learn the material and most of it will be learned at home. Today in one of my AP classes it took us about 30 minutes to do one assignment. ONLY ONE ASSIGNMENT!!! With the 7 block schedule, each class will be about 40 minutes in length. How the heck are we expected to learn anything in 40 minutes?! Not only that but think about the amount of tests and homeworks assigned per class. I guarantee that drop-out rates will sky rocket!

I don't regret participating in the protest. Not at all. It was completely worth it. Yet I'm not going to sit here and lie by saying that some students protested in order to skip second block. However, we received a lot of attention due to the numerous amount of students who participated. Hopefully, the School Board along with the Superintendent will take notice.

Don't forget to come to the School Board meeting tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.

i guess the teachers taught them this by protesting themselves.
are they opposing a 50 minute class?
that is the way it was when i went to school and i have plenty of friends that have succeeded in life

umleed, I am very well educated. My gpa might not be that high but I am literally a goody two shoes. im 18 and i do have my own opinion. Maybe if other adults (I say other because I am an adult) listened to us and actually took us seriously things like this wouldn't happen. By the way, it's really mature for you to make sarcastic remarks. Disagree with me, but don't insult me. Ok? Great. Have an awesome day :D.

neezdutz, I went to school where they had 7 blocks a day and had horrible grades. i don't know how old you are but things probably have changed since you went to school. it's much harder now. I switched to gulf coast high school and my grades skyrocketed. The teachers are protesting all the teachers they are going to fire and none of them protested, they weren't allowed and they didn't promote it they just couldn't do much to stop it.

Perhaps the students were paying attention in history class after all. This was a peaceful protest, an exercise in civil disobedience intended to garner attention on an issue of importance to the students. It suceeded. The Board turns their backs on the students at the meetings. The students made the news with a simple act that took a few minutes out of their day. The people who are in favor of getting rid of the block schedule are those who have absolutely nothing to do with it. They don't have children in high school and are not teachers. Hopefully, other schools will follow suit.

As students we have the right to have our voices heard in decisions that directly affect our education and future. Juniors and seniors experienced the schedule change that took place during the school year of 2005-06, and saw the detrimental results it had on our education. The 8 block schedule we have now works as proven by the switch back to it after the results of the 2005-06 school year. The proposals that are being suggested now are even worse than that year considering we were still on a modified block schedule. We are trying to avoid the mistakes made two years ago from happening once again. Not only will we be hurt with the loss of a credit per year, but will also be burdened with more work. 45 minutes of teaching time is not nearly enough to complete all activities necessary, meaning we will be responsible for more homework plus the added responsibility of three extra classes a day.
Today we were merely trying to make peopole realize we truly care about our educational standards and how they will affect our futures.

umleed, did you get picked on in HS? Still trying to get those thugs back. Shame on you picking on a teenager.

STUDENTS should NOT be suspended even though we were thretened to get arrested. It was NOT a walk out we all sat in the coartyard chanting, doing a wave, holding signs. I personally like my classes so I wouldnt want to skip class. I belive we made a good choice today. I didnt think so many Gulf Coast students would sit out. Once the music to go to class rang everyone stayed where the were right next to the Shark. Usually when the music rings before the bell everyone runs to class. I was told to go to class and so i did but when I got to class I relized I should stand up for my eduacation.So I went back becuase I wanted to fight for my eduaction. If we r seriously one of the wealthiest countrys in the country why is our school board so crappy? They take so much money from our parents why dont they spend the money wisely? I hope the school board takes our eduaction seriously I have 3 more years in High school and I hope they vote 4 by 4 tomorrow!

Your excuse has run out.

Your time has run out.

Your sister has come out.

You will tap out.

"Second, I still have a hard time believing that people (stsudents and teachers alike) are upset about students receiving MORE classroom instruction time under the new schedule. How can something that exposes the students to an INCREASE in classroom time be a bad thing?

So, the students won't have time to do assignments in class anymore with the shorter class periods. Big deal, that's why it's called HOMEwork. (If you do it in class, it's called CLASSwork.) They will just have to find a way to adjust. "

Just yesterday I was sitting in chemistry and we were about to perform a lab. It took about 10 minutes for us to gather together, go over homework, and receive instruction on our lab. Then we had to get into our lab stations and perform 2 sets containing 4 tests each. These tests took us until there were about 10 minutes left in our block class, those 10 minutes were used to clean up and safely dispose of our chemicals. How could we have possibly gotten that done in 30 minutes? It’s not possible! How do you expect we perform such tests outside of school? Do you really expect us to drag home chemicals, or worse, buy them for ourselves? You're not paying attention to the reality of the subject, you're sitting in some delusional world of numbers.

Do you not understand? We may be gaining class time but not all of those 50 minutes are being put towards focused instruction. We need time to go over the previous night’s work, discuss questions/concerns we may have had, take notes (perhaps engage in other learning activities), then clean up or do any other closing activities. Do you HONESTLY think that we can accomplish all of that and successfully learn something if we're constantly pressed for time?

Yeah punish the kids for standing up for their cause. Education!

Sounds like something out of Red China, Iran or North Korea doesn't it?

America the land of the free needs a new slogan.

"The land of the free (but only if you conform)"

What made this nation great was the ability to learn and use that learning to understand and adapt to a changing world. Not behave like grazing animals following the herder.

Good Job Kids!

If you're going to protest for education, does it make sense to protest during class?

Try planning your protest after school. You can do it directly out front on the sidewalk of the school. You wouldn't miss instruction, and you would be able to speak with the media (of course, very few students would show up if the event didn't give them the excuse to miss class).

Standing up for what you believe is great, but it's always a more worthwhile path if you use your brain in how you carry out your actions.

teen i am talking about all the protesting the teachers did months ago.
i graduated in '91 and don't tell me it is harder now than it was then. That is an ignorant thing to say.
i have a sister-in-law that just graduated with honors and the curriculum's about the same as it was before

These kids should NOT be glorified, they directly disobeyed authority figures. They refused to listen to the Principle and the Youth Relation Deputies from the sheriff department. The majority of the kids went out there simply to cut class and cause trouble, I personally know a handful of seniors who got stuck out there when they all "sat down". If they wanted to do something productive, and not waste MY class time, they should have sent an email to the board members and attended the meetings. Instead, I was forced to wait for this stupid thing to end before class started as the teacher and a lot of the kids were more concerned about the idiots outside instead of learning.

Anyone who thinks that we were faking it just to get out of class needs to look at the situation. Most of the people saying that we should have gotten suspended seriously need to get their head examined. I know for a fact that so many kids did it becuase they care because I was there to witness everything. I know so many kids who really protested for the CAUSE. Also, everyone needs to get that it was a SIT IN. No one left the school and it was a peaceful protest. I was one of the people who truly cared about the situation and the students of GCHS want to have a say in what is going to happen in our future. It was our way to get our point across. Parents who have kids that go to a Collier County school should sit down and talk to their kids for 5 minutes about whats heppening. Take an active role in your childs education. The protest was one of the best things that the students could do. I am soo happy that i participated and would do it again in a heartbeat. The next step is to go to the board meeting. PLEASE PLEASE COME!! we need all the support that we can get. Bring everyone you know even if they dont care about whats happening.

Tomorrow at 3:00 between Baron Collier High School and the Community School of Naples. Show your support

yeah sorry i aint good at english but when i graduate im goin into the ARMY what have you done with your life to benifit America?

i was in the protest...

to tell you the truth , half the people here are being stupid and just making comments that we should be punished for fighting what we believe in, and they themselves have no information to base their comment on.

just for the info, right now we are on a 4 block schedule and in total have 8 classes all year around. the reason why we have 8 classes with a 4 block schedule is because we change our 4 classes after the 1 semester.

if they switch us to the 7 block schedule they will be taking away our elective classes giving us ONLY 7 classes to attend for the whole year because we will not switching our classes after the 1 semester.

If you're going to claim to be a teacher, please take the time to perform some self-correction techniques before posting...

Alicia, there is a time and place for everything. How does disobeying Law Enforcement Officers work for keeping a school schedule? I really don't understand, a policeman asks you to do a reasonable request (get out of the courtyard, and go to class) you do it, you don't disobey because you have a large group of people with you, this whole thing was proof of "mob mentality".

The protest was peaceful and i dont know why everyone wants to punish us for doing it. We have rights and we demonstrated them today. Nothing wrong with that

thank you ecoterror

eco and umleed,
The kids are have more intitlement than anyone to fight for thier education. It is thier right as American citizens!

Thompson is doing this why?
Because our kids rank low in National grading? Because he had so much success in Illinois with this scheduling?
Does this save the county money?

What is the point!

The Administators being absolutly unacceptable is not the faults of any of these kids. The educational system not being desirable has nothing to do with what these kids are doing today!

NeezDutz, you know that everything is harder when your that age! :)

Umleed, The last thing that kid needs is advice from a website blogger (Dork)

Personalj

Sometimes standing up for what you believe in takes some disobedience. On a much grander scale, people have been standing up for their rights throughout history and they were doing it on "someone else's time". Sometimes it takes a group of people to say "No." for a simple message to be heard. The joke of a meeting that we had to "get our points across" was honestly just that... a joke. They're not going to listen to us because they really couldn't care less about our emails. It’s a lot harder to ignore a group of people that are standing together then it is to ignore an inbox full of individual emails. You may be able to delete the emails but you can't mute the voices.

As a student at Gulf Coast High School, I think what us students did was right. Yes, i was apart of the protest, and we have a reason for what we did. If students are actually asking to keep 86 minute classes, then their doing it for a reason. With that extra time and the extra classes, we have the opportunity to earn more credits to get into a decent college. Sure every collage says all you need is 24 credits, but legally, that's all their aloud to say. What their looking for is more credits, and more students with courses of major of interests. How does the school board expect us to know what we want to go into college for if we don't have the chance to explore all of our choices? The school board is telling us to e-mail them with out throughts and comments, but how many of those e-mails are actually read? & how many of them are actually relpied to? Today, the students came together to protest what we belive in, keeping our schedule how it is. We want our voice to be heard. We want people to listen to us. We want people to understand that we're doing fine with our schedule & that we don't need any chage in our school system.

Just a note, I see the NDN somehow got the figure of 500 protesters, not sure who their source was, but it is way off. I believe the number is more like 100-75, unless the students who were in the center of the courtyard during nutrition break were included (which would be pointless, then again, it's the NDN).

EXACTLY!!! We had to do something

Refering to the comment above

I am a student at Gulf Coast High School, participated in the sit- out and just because we believe in our future and we believe that by making us have 7 blocks does not make us bad teenagers. The sit-out was basically a way of us taking a stand for our future. We should not be punished just because the school board got a new superintendent. I know for a fact that Collier County is one of the most wealthy counties in Florida so how can they honestly say that we can't afford to have block scheduling? Our education system is one of the worst in our nation, so what does that say about the school board? I believe that they should pick a schedule and keep it instead of changing it every two years.

The sit-out was not done to skip second block. That's not saying that some of the teens out there weren't there for that purpose but I know that all the people I was there with were there to show the school board that we should have a say in our education. In 45 minutes (if we were to go to the 7 period schedule) we would barely be able to learn one lesson.

None of the teachers had anything to do with this. Everything that happened today was done by the students and the students only. All we did was sit there. No police officers ever threatened to mace us.

No student should be suspended for the sit-out. If we want a say in our future so be it. Almost every single person commenting on this page is out of school and you have no idea about the pressure that is already put on us before graduation. By the time we are freshmans, we are expected to know exactly what we want to do in our future.

Stop bashing us just because we tried to do something that affects us and our education. What we did was right, regardless of what you say or think. I participated in the sit-out because I care about my education, not to skip second block.

"do something" < "do something with planned intelligence"

Have you people have any idea what you are saying? I was in the protest earlier today and the lies you made up about us being 'Barbaric' with us throwing stuff, cursing at teachers, etc. You weren