Nashville students march demanding change before State of the State

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Dozens of public school students marched to the Tennessee State Capitol prior to Monday’s State of the State address to protest the governor’s voucher plan and more.

The students marched from the Nashville Public Library to the Capitol, demanding stricter gun laws, no book bans and the end to school vouchers.

Step-by-step, Nashville students marched through the city streets demanding to be heard, chanting no to vouchers and more.

“We are marching to show that the students are not satisfied with the state of the state as Bill Lee may suggest,” Hume-Fogg sophomore Emmie Wolf-Dubin, who led the charge, said. “We want to make sure that our message is put out there that we are unsatisfied and ready to make a change.”

But what exactly do they want to change?

“We’re unsatisfied with the idea of vouchers. We’re unsatisfied with banning books. We deserve to learn, we deserve to have money to learn, and we deserve to have diverse schools,” Wolf-Dubin said.

It wasn’t just students demanding change.

“These vouchers would mean lower teacher pay, larger class sizes and fewer resources for schools,” one Metro Nashville Public Schools teacher said.

“No to vouchers, no to indoctrination and yes to public schools,” another parent said.

Parents and teachers said they do not want taxpayer dollars to go toward sending public school students to private schools, and books to be taken out of school libraries.

“What do you have to hide? What about the truth is so terrifying that you have to remove it from shelves,” a Metro Nashville Public Schools student said.

But instead enforce stricter gun laws and provides those struggling with resources.

“I think politicians underestimate how important the youth are,” Hume-Fogg junior Ibti Cheko said. “This is not a partisan issue. Being here does not mean you’re a Democrat or Republican. This is something we have to fight together.”

Students said if leaders don’t make the change, they’ll change their leaders one vote at a time.