Paso Robles High School, Atascadero High School, and Templeton High School walked out of class on September 20 to protest climate change, a topic continuously debated this year on the political and the educational stage. However, few San Luis Obispo High School students participated.
16-year old climate activist Greta Thunberg had inspired a global strike week against climate change, with marches occurring across towns and cities all over the world. Various San Luis Obispo County environmental groups promoted the Climate Strike Week in SLO.
“[The walkout] was kind of low key. I did hear that there were some people who left class to go participate at Cal Poly,” said senior Sara Arnold.
The main event will be at the San Luis Obispo Courthouse on September 27 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Below the flier advertisement that appeared around the community for the main event this upcoming Friday, five high schools from San Luis Obispo County, Paso Robles, Morro Bay, Templeton, Atascadero, and SLOHS, were listed as schools organizing to have walkouts on September 20.
The San Luis Obispo Tribune covered Atascadero High School, alongside Templeton High School, and Paso Robles High School, on the front page of the Saturday issue of the paper.
Cal Poly was also among the schools, despite being of university level, that also walked out on the date.
However, the two San Luis Coastal Unified School District high schools, MBHS and SLOHS, appear to have not participated in the Friday walkout.
“I learned of the climate walk out a few days before the scheduled event. As a public school district, we cannot promote ‘student walkouts’ and encourage student participation in missing scheduled classes. We currently live in a protest-minded society which is pretty cool; however, I cannot advocate for students (under our care and responsibility) to walk off campus without supervision and/or parent permission,” said superintendent Eric Prater.
The SLOHS Young Democrats Club had been promoting the main event on September 27, but no school walkout was organized during school hours.
“There was average attendance on September 20 at both SLOHS and MBHS,” said Prater.
