At lunch today, many passionate students took the quad to protest the removal of the couches from classrooms. They brought the couches out from classrooms and formed a “couch sit-in.” From the stage they shouted chants such as “Paper burns, couches don’t” and “We won’t stand.”
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Students and teachers are criticizing the removal of the couches for numerous reasons.
History teacher Dan Fitz-Patrick has students that sit on his couches as their assigned seat because there aren’t enough desks. His plan for now is to bring in a portable table and chairs from the pod to compensate for the lost seating. He thinks that the removal of the couches is “over the top.”
“My immediate gut reaction was […] ‘Who doesn’t have a couch in their house or anywhere?’” Fitz-Patrick said. “I thought it was stupid.”
“It’s overkill,” he continued. “At some point are we just going to have very sterile jail cells? […] I love the idea that Foothill established a culture with its teachers and its students over all these years.”
Fellow history teacher Cherie Eulau said, “For me, it’s not actually the couch. It’s that the district is spending time, money, energy and resources on finding things that are wrong rather than looking at successful schools and classrooms and saying ‘Well why is Foothill successful?’”
“Maybe one reason is we make students feel welcome and make our classrooms a place where students want to be,” she expressed.
In addition to the her couches being considered a hazard, Eulau heard that her seating chart was also deemed unfit for disabled students.
“They don’t like my seating chart of my room either,” she added. “Which to me is really bizarre because I designed it so I could get close to as many students as possible and as quickly as possible so that I can walk around the room and help people.”
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Although he finds the sit-in “entertaining,” Principal Joe Bova says that “we could argue with [the insurance company] but it’s a compliance issue.”
“The insurance companies won’t insure our school against a fire if there’s things that we’re supposed to comply with that we don’t comply with,” he said. “So basically couches have to go.”
However Bova said that “it’s always fun to see kids having fun and getting involved in supporting something they believe in.”
“This is the Foothill I know and love,” English teacher Jennifer Kindred said regarding the students taking a stand. “Foothill hasn’t changed at all.”
Background Photo Credit: Grace Carey
Thinglink and Storify Credit: Emily van Deinse
Bella Bobrow and Chloe Hilles contributed to the reporting of this article
https://storify.com/FTHSDragonPress/couch-protest
Khaila Hartung-Dallas • May 4, 2016 at 12:15 am
Very well reported. As a senior I’ve seen just how hard the students at Foothill work, in classes and extracurriculars like sports or speech and debate we’ve proven time and time again how dedicated we are to not only our success as individuals, but as a school. So when, after countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears being shed on my behalf to make Foothill shine, the administration only known response to this is that they’re “entertained”, I started feeling a little annoyed and angry.
There are, of course, lots of things that go into making Foothill what it is, but the couches were something that we’re not only greatly appreciated by overworked and tired students, but also served as just another pillar of the vital relationships students form with teachers on our campus. The couches give kids a chance to just chill and be comfortable, which is key to having well adjusted and happy students.
I understand that this is an “insurance issue” and we’re supposed to just accept that there’s nothing we can do, but that’s never really what we’ve been about. As a student, I’d greatly appreciate if the administration could treat this in a similar fashion and, perhaps, show some support in trying to repeal (or even just be like hey guys we tried because we know you love them and we want to support you, because after all, you’re the biggest reason why our school is so awesome but there was nothing we could do) the decision made by the district, rather than finding the whole thing as a source for entertainment.