CLEBURNE (WBAP/KLIF News) — Students at Cleburne High School who protested their principal Wednesday afternoon said they were going to protest again Thursday morning when school started — but all was quiet outside the school.
On Wednesday, they protested in the hallways, chanting in unison for the principal to be fired on the assertion that a handful of teachers the students liked were forced to resign. One student pulled the fire alarm while protests were occurring.
“All of a sudden we heard screaming,” said senior Summer Bourquin, who was at the school library when it happened. “We went over to check it out, and there were students lined up upstairs and all around the cafeteria chanting.”
The in-school protests came roughly one week after head football coach Jeff Merket submitted his resignation letter, citing a hostile work environment.
Bourquin says around 200 people signed a petition to have the principal fired, and that the school threatened students who signed it with in-school suspension. The school has not commented, aside from the principal saying she is pleased with how students exited the building when the fire alarm was pulled.
Bourquin said she did not protest.
“I think that it’s stupid,” Bourquin said. “I don’t get why people can’t respect the fact that it is what it is.”
