Hundreds of students from Santa Barbara, San Marcos and Dos Pueblos high schools on the South Coast walked out of class at noon Wednesday in protest of the presidential election, in which Donald Trump was declared the winner with 279 electoral votes.
About 300-400 students marched down Anapamu Street from SBHS to the Santa Barbara Courthouse Sunken Gardens downtown and students on other campuses also gathered for rallies of sorts, according to school officials.
Speakers at the Sunken Gardens denounced Trump’s policies, including his statements about women and the LGBTQ community, in a peaceful gathering.
Students were expected to go back to class after the protests and school officials are keeping an eye on the gatherings, Santa Barbara Unified School District spokeswoman Barbara Keyani said.
There was some brief tension when one student with a Trump/Pence shirt showed up, but it ended peacefully.
A teacher on the scene of the SBHS rally said students will get unexcused absences for the two classes they miss Wednesday.
San Marcos High School students gathered at the football field.
Student marchers from Dos Pueblos High School were headed toward UCSB’s Storke Plaza, presumably to meet up with people at a planned rally there.
Law enforcement units were also on scene for Dos Pueblos walkers, to clear intersections as necessary and keep walkers safe.
“To ensure student safety, staff from the respective sites and district-level administrators monitored and supervised the protests,” Keyani said in a statement.
District administrators were back in the office by 2:20 p.m. and Keyani said there were no problems during the rallies.
“The presidential election has generated a great deal of discussion and many of our students are concerned about the election outcome,” district Superintendent Cary Matsuoka said.
“Students organized a protest to call attention to their concerns following the results of yesterday’s election. We understand their desire to express their opinions, a foundational value of our society. School and district administrators took steps to monitor the noon protests so that our students were safe and able to express their opinions.”
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
Noozhawk Executive Editor Tom Bolton contributed to this story.
— Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
Santa Barbara High Student Protest from Noozhawk on Vimeo.
