A group of parents and students from various local schools gathered at the footsteps of the Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis Thursday afternoon to protest online, distance learning and to bring school sports back.
“We want families to have the option,” between in-person and distance learning, said Kelsi Hamilton, one of the organizers of the protest and a mother in the Chehalis School District.
The protest was the second of its kind this week, though Hamilton along with Alicia Meehan and Renee Robinette, both Winlock School District mothers and organizers as well, said the one on Thursday was better attended than the one on Monday.
About 125 students and parents in total were in attendance.
Many of the students on hand, decked out in their respective school’s sports apparel, said a return to sports is at the top of their priority list, but still noted some difficulties they’ve experienced with online learning.
Margarite Humphrey, a freshman three-sport athlete from Adna High School, said she was primarily there to voice her support for bringing school sports back, which got a nod of approval from her friends.
“For me, sports” is the priority, “because I’m an athlete, but we also want schools to be open because it is important to have school,” said Jayce Talley, a freshman at Onalaska High School.
Another issue commonly cited among students was the lack of social interaction that in-person schooling usually provides.
“I miss my friends and I miss seeing people at school and interacting with teachers and stuff, and I can’t do that as well on our 20-minute zoom calls,” Presley Smith said.
To a certain extent, the students’ demands were heard as Lewis County Public Health Officer Dr. Rachael Wood rescinded her July 21, July 22 and August 25 orders earlier on Thursday that restricted sporting events in the county.
Athletics will still be subject to the guidelines of Washington’s Safe Start phased approach, which Lewis County is currently in Phase 3 and guidelines of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, which has pushed back high school sports seasons across the state..
While a majority of the protestors stayed outside of the courthouse and waived signs on West Main Street, about 20 parents and students went in to sit in at the Board of County Commissioners’ weekly wrap-up meeting.
There, they used the public comment portion of the meeting to reiterate their frustration around in-person learning, and for students, a lack of sports.
Meehan read a letter written by her 14-year-old daughter that described her experience in the distanced learning model.
“Sometimes I get so stressed I close my computer and break down because I just can’t do it,” Meehan read from her daughter’s letter as she fought back tears. “I don’t have the energy to wait and wait on some teachers because they don’t even know what they’re doing or they say ‘I don’t really know how to do this.’”
Students who spoke expressed a wide range of concerns from adverse effects of not playing sports, a lack of social interaction, missing out on events like high school dances and troubles they’ve faced with online schooling.
Cade Evander, a Napavine High School student and aspiring college football player, used his time to talk about how difficult it has been for him to get noticed by prospective colleges without sports.
“I’ve had to go out of state to go to camps for football to do things so I can get noticed by colleges, rather than just playing a football game here,” Evander said. “... I’m not saying it’s easy, it’s not, but give us a chance to at least have that opportunity.
Hamilton said in her time, “This group is engaged, and we are not going to stop until our children are back in classrooms.”
