Cheltenham High School students conduct sit-in [Mark Levin and Benjamin Netanyahu alma mater]

Cheltenham High School students took a stand against the administration and held a sit-in Sept. 19 in the first-floor main hallway at the school.

What were they protesting? According to a flyer that was circulated prior to the stand-off, students were upset about a series of school rules imposed by administrators. These rules included a four-minute time limit to get to classes, no headphones in the hallways, no eating outside and no walking up and down a particular stairwell in the building.

These rules were referred to as “careless,” “unwelcome” and “ineffective” on the flyer.

Students and curious online spectators did not hesitate to take to Twitter during the protest to vocalize their thoughts on the sit-in.

SO CHELTENHAM HIGH SCHOOL DID A SIT IN TODAY...CRAZY HOW U CANT FIND THT UNITY N PHILLY PUBLIC SCHOOL...#UNITEDWESTAND #DIVIDEDWEFALL

Cheltenham High School students having a sit in over headphones. I hope they get what they want.

The protest lasted about an hour, and the majority of the students involved were seniors, Cheltenham Superintendent Natalie Thomas said Sept. 23.

“Was I surprised by this, no,” she said. “When I say not surprised, I say that because we have a very articulate, caring and advocacy-minded group of students. Wishing we had a better pulse on their level of frustration, yes. We could have helped them with alternatives. I don’t think they felt they had other alternatives, but I think they now know they did.”

The sit-in seemed to have some success. Cheltenham High School Principal Iris Parker agreed to allow students to eat outside without littering, and the school increased the amount of trash cans on the grounds. In addition, she agreed to allow students wear headphones in the hallways, but not the “noise-cancelling” kind, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Thomas said she would have preferred students use other means to vocalize their concerns but understood the students are learning and exploring ways to have a viable voice.

Parker is meeting with students and staff members and will be creating student focus groups, so students can develop alternative ways of expressing their feelings and concerns that allow them to be heard, Thomas said.

In the conversations with students that followed the sit-in, Thomas said administrators were able to explain the rules to students and why they were in place.

Thomas said students were prohibited from eating outside as a result of littering and food being left on the ground; this food attracted insects and wildlife and made for a difficult clean-up.

The no headphones rule, which Thomas said was a work in progress, was created out of safety concerns regarding students not being able to hear instruction or what’s occurring around them. There is also the fact students may not engage and be social with one another, she said.

Then there was the issue of the stairwell. Thomas said this particular stairwell is near the Cedarbrook Middle School student area.

A portion of Cedarbrook Middle School students are using space at the high school as result of a mold issue that caused the district to shut down the middle school building last year.

This stairwell has become a gathering place for students and gets congested, she said. Students and administrators are engaging in conversations about this issue, she said.

The administration is working with students to come up with more effective ways to discuss their concerns and effective problem-solving solutions, Thomas said.

Based entirely on my kids' high school experience, I'm for the kids on this one. They probably did not explain why the rules were changed or seek alternative solutions to the problems they faced. For example: don't eat outside. Most schools are designed to seat one person per chair, but no eating establishment works that way. It is normal for only four people to sit at a six person table. Only four minutes between classes? If the school is of any size, you have no time to talk to anyone between classes- including teachers. My daughter had one teacher that commonly kept the class late and the next teacher took no excuses for being late to her class- it took active parent involvement to get that corrected. Before we blame the kids on this situation, remember the teachers and administrators are the same people who expel students for having a butter knife in the trunk of a car. My daughter's boyfriend had a locked tool chest in the bed of his truck and the school demanded he open it for inspection for no reason other than a suspicion that a tool chest might have a tool that they could expel him for. He refused and you would have thought from the administration's reaction that he stored a dead body in it. Luckily, he won that contest of wills.

Some teachers and administrators want it both ways and try play each side against the other. Most teachers and administrators are really good people, but the idiots and jerks seem to always make the rules.

Now before the standard comment about home schooling is thrown in: my kids went to a good school: some teachers kept Bibles on their desks, coaches prayed with their teams before games, teachers gave extra instruction after hours to help slow learners, the school had a rifle team, etc... . In fact my kids had enough credits that they could have graduated a year early, but did not want to. Four years later, I still haven't figured that one out.

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