Students, faculty, staff, and supporters took another route to showing solidarity and strength in the call to support schools and education funding in Seattle Thursday morning. A morning of “walk-ins” took place across the district — and the country — in the early hours before first bell, including a rally and walk-in at 23rd Ave’s Garfield High School:

The Seattle Education Association has joined communities around the nation that are Walking in for public education.  On the morning of Thursday, Feb. 18th, parents, students and educators and community members will rally in front of school across Seattle.  There they will deliver powerful messages about our vision for public education and then walk into the school together in a show of solidarity.

“There is plenty of money for the art teacher for my kids’ school, we just have to build a movement big enough to make them follow the law,” Garfield teacher and education activist Jesse Hagopian said during his time at the microphone Thursday morning.

District 3 rep Kshama Sawant again called for the City to put forward $10 million to address Seattle’s homeless emergency. “This school, Garfield High School, has 125 students who are homeless. How can this be when we have millionaires and billionaires in this city?”

“The walk-in is an important step for parents, students, and educators to send a strong message about their vision for education,” Hagopian said in the announcement of the event. “Our next step will be to build collective actions that can create a movement to achieve this vision.”