Protesting protocol

Prisoners should not come before children.

That's the message students at Tricentia Academy aimed to send to government by staging a walkout last Thursday.

Nearly 70 of the junior and senior high students walked out of school to protest how the H1N1 vaccine is being delivered.

About half a dozen parents joined the students.

With signs in hand they stood along the roadside off school property for most of the day. Several passing motorists honked their horns in support of the students.

Mary Walsh, a Level III student at Tricentia Academy, was one of the organizers of the demonstration.

"We don't feel it is fair that prisoners are being vaccinated, even though they are not in the target group," said Walsh, referring to government's decision to vaccinate inmates at correctional facilities before vaccinating children.

Walsh says the students at Tricentia are also concerned that their school is being used as a vaccination site.

That's bringing more people that usual into the school, she says, and possibly increasing the risk of infection for students.

"The H1NI virus may have already infected some of these people. There are small children who haven't been vaccinated yet, so that's putting our students at risk."

Tricentia Academy has a population of about 310 students, with about 150 at the junior and senior high level.

According to Walsh, the school has not been impacted greatly by the flu. She says less than 10 per cent of the student population is absent with flu-like symptoms.

The students hope it stays that way.

"We hope more vaccinations will go to people that need it, like the younger children," she said, noting Kindergarten to Grade 3 students were scheduled to be vaccinated that same day.

"But there are still students in grades four to six at greater risk and there are people older than 24 who can't get the vaccinations yet. We just want to make our concerns known and hope government will handle situations like this better in the future," she says.

Walsh told the Packet on Friday the students intended to maintain their picket lines until they got media coverage, to focus attention on their concerns.

She says they also contacted their MHA, Calvin Peach, to express the same concerns. According to Walsh, Peach assured her he would pass on the students' concerns to government.

As for the decision to demonstrate first, Walsh says, "We just thought the point would be better made through media coverage because that way it would be more exposed."

Education minister Darrin King, in an interview with The Packet, on the day the students were protesting, encouraged them to return to class.

"We've heard your message loud and clear, we respect the fact that you have concerns, you've made your point loud and clear and now you need to get back to school ... back to your studies," he said.

The students did that on Friday.

editor@thepacket.ca