Most of the signs carried by the more than 65 Mt. Edgecumbe High School students taking part in an outdoor protest on the campus Sunday afternoon had the word “respect” on them.
“Respect our time” and “Respect our opinions,” they read. A neon yellow banner, held by several students, said "Respect goes BOTH ways."
The student-organized demonstration near the campus flagpole was prompted by the school administration's emailed announcement earlier in the day that study hour — a time when students must be in their dorm rooms with the doors open and working on homework — was being changed from 8:30 to 7:30 p.m. daily.
Campus curfew is 8:45 p.m., so starting study hour at 7:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 would mean less time for students to play sports, participate in cultural activities and hang out with friends, said one of the protest organizers, Kadyn Cross, a sophomore from Koyuk.
Students attending the protest said the change reflects an issue with administrators making major decisions without first consulting students, and implementing restrictions that undermine students' dignity and quality of life.
During the protest students sang the Mt. Edgecumbe fight song and sports chants, and spoke about the decline in the quality of life they’ve experienced this past year, to cheers and applause.
“All the years I’ve been here, I’ve never seen this school go downhill faster. This is outrageous," one student said.
A printed copy of a speech given by senior Graden Baker, handed to Sentinel staff, said: “Ignoring student voices disconnects the trust, harms personal reflection, and damages the very purpose of a state boarding school meant to support and uplift Alaska’s youth.”
Baker demanded a pause on schedule changes before student input is gathered; transparent communication from school leadership; and including student representation in making decisions on changes that affect students’ lives.
The email announcing the study hall time change was sent at midday Sunday by Dorm Management Director Debbie Little Dog, which the students showed to the Sentinel. Little Dog linked the time change to student complaints that the late time made it difficult to stay awake to study.
Within a short time Little Dog and other school staff members received dozens of replies from students opposing the change, and saying they would be gathering at 5 p.m. Sunday to protest the time change.
Little Dog spoke to students, informing them that school superintendent David Langford made the decision to change the study hour timing, and that she simply delivered the message.
On Sunday afternoon Langford emailed students saying that he would be in the student dormitory lounge at 4 p.m. to discuss the change with available students.
About 25 students, along with MEHS Advisory Board member Kathy Mathews, a grandparent of a Mt. Edgecumbe student, attended the Sunday afternoon meeting with Langford.
Mathews told the Sentinel later that during the meeting Langford said about 100 students are failing or receiving "no credit" in at least one class, which prompted his decision to change the time of students' study hour.
"As a parent, I'm going, 'There's four weeks left in school, and you're just now bringing this up?'" Mathews said. "It should have never gotten to the final hour of things.'"
Mathews said she also spent about three hours on Sunday speaking with students about their concerns with management, rigid policies, underqualified employees, inconsistent enforcement of rules, and reprimands students received for publicly sharing their negative views about school operations this year.
In her comments to the Sentinel, Mathews said that throughout the year the superintendent and other school leaders have ignored the recommendations of students, parents and the Advisory Board.
"He doesn't listen to us, doesn't respond to us," Mathews said. "I think it's an insult."
"The kids have given multitudes of suggestions on how to solve things and how to do things differently because they keep getting told over and over again, 'Oh, tell us your ideas, bring us your feedback, we want your input, we want to listen to you.' But then they don't listen," Mathews said.
As to the study hour change announced Sunday, Mathews said that "for the students, it was Easter, they were trying to make the best of being away from home. And (administrators) did something like that. It was just the final straw."
Although Langford informed students at the 4 p.m. Sunday meeting that he would reverse the decision on study hour, students still decided to have the protest at 5 p.m.
“We need to speak up and make it known that [the administrators] weren’t listening to us,” said Cross, who serves as the student representative to the MEHS Advisory Board.
Freshman Ian Agayar from Alakanuk and sophomore Annabelle Worley from Craig agreed.
“I want us, as the whole student body, to feel heard because we’ve never been this whole school year,” Agayar said in an interview.
Worley added the example of weekly SeaMart trips, which were cancelled earlier in the year and brought back after a month of student petitioning with community support.
She said those trips were the only way for some students to get feminine hygiene products and other necessities because they’re cheaper at SeaMart than other more walkable stores.
"I came here for a better education. The school in my hometown had a lot of people misusing substances, and I didn’t want to be a part of that. So far, I have gotten a better education than I got at home," Worley said. "But there has been a lot of miscommunication. It’s kind of been all over the place.”
Langford told the Sentinel today that, after receiving student feedback on the change on Sunday, leaders agreed to leave the study hour schedule as it is now.
"We listened to the students and we will leave the study hours the same for the rest of the year," Langford wrote in an email to all MEHS students this morning. "We are working to provide more support and guidance for students not passing classes."
Little Dog wrote in an email to the Sentinel today that "the motivation behind all decision made by Mr. Langford and the administration of the school is to help these students get an education. That is the number one goal for all of us."
Cross, who also advocated for more funding to Mt. Edgecumbe in front of the Alaska Legislature in February, summarized an easy way for MEHS administration to do so for him and his peers.
“We have a voice, we can stand up, and they need to involve us in decisions that affect us more than them,” he said.
When asked if he had anything else to add on the topic, Cross simply said “Go Braves.”
This story has been updated to correct the name of Advisory Board member Kathy Mathews.
