Not At Normal Day: Students Detail Day One Of Teacher Strike
DENVER (CBS4) - Monday showed a glimpse of what Denver Public Schools did not want. Students singing and dancing in the East High School hallway instead of sitting in makeshift classes with substitute teachers.
Sophia Antonopoulos, a student, said it was for a reason.
"I don't think it was partying. I think we were trying to make a point."
That point she says was support for teachers.
Kendal Gomez expected chaos, "I just thought... I knew kids were going to walk out, but I didn't know it would be crazy."
And crazy it was as students went to classes with new schedules some called fake with fill-in teachers.
"DPS administrator who is not a certified sub and has never been in a class before so most of us left," said East senior Caitlin Kenney.
Parents, like Sophia Dennis, came looking for their children.
"I would rather have them partying in hallway than telling them 'If you don't have class, go home,'" she told CBS4's Rick Sallinger.
Some students joined teachers on the picket lines.
RELATED: Denver Teachers Strike Begins
But not all schools were the same. At Skinner Middle School in northwest Denver, the only school where a TV camera was allowed, it appeared calm in certain places.
Executive principal Michelle Koyama was busy leading the band, while other students were hunched over papers.
"They are writing letters to their teachers and hoping they have them back soon," she said.
But some students told a different story outside of the building.
"When you guys go inside they try to calm us down, make us look like everything's okay," one student who was kicked out of school said. His point of view though was supported by the TV photographer allowed inside.
