Passion from kids who've struggled in school.
"You would rather move us, just to save money,” One student said. “Which is stupid, in my opinion because I'm doing very well. I never used to. I didn't care."
“Moving... It doesn't feel right,” Ezaria Miles said.
Because these kids say their alternative high school TA Wilson changed their lives.
"They helped me get jobs, they helped me with my grades, my attitude,” Miles said. “They just helped me a lot."
But the school board is considering a change to the program. It's part of a plan to restructure and save money.
Part of the cuts mean alternative students won't be coming to TA Wilson anymore, they'll be operating out of Jackson high school in a school within a school program.
The change would save around 30 thousand dollars. Students say the big problem is... Not all of them will be allowed into that program. They've heard only ten will get in... The rest will be put into night classes.
"I don't know if I'm going to be one of those 10 or not, I probably won't," Miles said.
Superintendent Jeff Beal says nothing is set in stone yet. He says these changes aren't just about the money.
"About 50-60 of them show up on any given day so the students have already voted by not coming to school,” Beal said. “They're already telling us that that program is not working for them."
To make it work, school administrators are thinking about having a more career focused program.
Our kids are going to get a job experience, the skills they need to be successful.
Tonight's emotion lead the board to put the decision off for now.
"For my students to just be warriors and come out for a cause, it says something about their character and their heart and it makes me very, very proud of them," Joanna Perkin a TA Wilson teacher said.
"We are created to do great things, we are created to do great things," the students chanted.
