FORKS — Student and parent leaders at the forefront of a grass-roots movement to change the leadership at Forks High School said Tuesday they’ve seen improvements since two student walkouts brought the school to a standstill.
“We feel a little more supported, like they’re listening more and taking us into consideration,” said Julia Johnson, a Forks High junior who helped organize the March 25 and April 1 student walkouts as protests against decisions by principal Steve Quick and vice principal Chris Wiseman.
“The climate has definitely improved [at the high school] and things are heading in the right direction.”
Nina Lau, Johnson’s classmate and fellow student organizer, agreed.
“Things have definitely died down,” said Lau, who on Tuesday joined about 45 community members in the audience of a Quillayute Valley School District board meeting.
Lau cited a town hall-type meeting held in April with students and the school’s administration — the first of what is expected to be a number of similar encounters.
“It thought it went well,” she said.
“Students were really able to ask questions and have their voices be heard.”
School Board praised
Even parents, many of whom have in recent weeks openly criticized both the high school and district administrations for not being communicative enough, thanked the School Board on Tuesday for some of its responses to citizen complaints.
“I do appreciate that you’re listening,” said Darryl Gaydeski.
He referred to a recent School Board memo that said Quick should have acted differently during a March basketball game in Centralia when he removed a student because she made an offensive hand gesture at the car in which he was driving en route to the game.
That event, known locally as the “Centralia incident,” helped to open a dam of criticism against Quick and Wiseman, including calls that they were too authoritarian with students and were unresponsive to parent or student concerns.
