Parents in Detroit wanting to protest the conditions at their sons’ school—Frederick Douglass Academy—organized a student walkout this week, according to the Detroit Free Press.
“We want an education,” the Douglass students reportedly chanted as they left the school, which is the only all-male public school in the state of Michigan.
In response, administrators suspended about 50 high school students from the academy, writes Chastity Pratt Dewsey, the Free Press’ education writer. That move angered parents who felt that student protests at another school earlier this year were not met with similar disciplinary measures.
Douglass parents and students told the newspaper they are upset about teacher absences, unproductive time students are spending at school, and the reassignment of the founding principal, among other things.
A school board member attended the protest in support of the stand the young men were taking to demand an education from the academy, which has 200 students enrolled in grades six to 12.