Students at Vancouver School of Arts and Academics and Hudson’s Bay High School staged walkouts Thursday morning to protest Vancouver Public Schools’ $35 million budget cuts. The reductions, which the district’s board of directors approved last week, will cut 262 staff positions for the 2024-2025 school year.
Students from Fort Vancouver High School walked out Tuesday, arriving at the district office while administrators were in the middle of contract negotiations with the Vancouver Education Association.
Like Fort students, VSAA and Bay students walked from their respective schools to the district’s administrative services building at 2901 Falk Road. A flyer developed by VSAA students that circulated Thursday expressed concern for cuts to arts programs and inflating class sizes.
“VSAA is ultimately getting gutted as an art school so please walk out, email the superintendent and talk to everyone you know about this,” the flyer states. “Transparency and visibility are so important right now!”
