Let’s head back to the 1968 pages of the Optimist when students at Tsawwassen Junior Secondary held walkouts to protest the lack of a gymnasium facility at their school.
About 70 grades 8 and 9 students walked out after the noon lunch hour on Tuesday, Oct 8 after 200 had participated in a walkout the day earlier, refusing to return to school after lunch.
Self-appointed spokesperson Michael Lawrence, 15, said six classrooms were being added but many of the current classes were still half-empty, while there was no consideration by the school board for a gym.
He said students had to go out in the rain for gym class at the new school. If the weather was too wet for students, they had to exercise in a small room or have study period, he said.
Praise for the students came Delta School Board Chair Fred Gingell, who said the whole thing was a question of “too many needs chasing the available dollars.”
School principal John Hudson said, “The students have not done what they believe to be wrong but believe to be right.”
A gym was eventually added.
