Little Rock Central students walk out today....

[kadee79]

In protest over Sarah Sanders education bill, LEARNS Act!

Storied Little Rock Central High School, cited by Sarah Huckabee Sanders' campaign as formative in her rise to the Arkansas governor's mansion, was the site Friday of a student walkout to protest the cornerstone of her legislative agenda -- the LEARNS Act, a massive education reform bill Sanders vows will be a "blueprint" for the nation.

During the school's third period, at 1 p.m., several hundred students left classes and flooded the lawn of the historic institution, where in 1957 nine Black students were escorted by federal troops to enforce the landmark Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which ended the concept of "separate but equal" schools.

The walkout, organized by the school's Student Council, Young Leftists Club, Black Student Union and Gay-Straight Alliance, among other clubs, comes after a group of students penned an open letter to Sanders voicing strong concerns with the legislation and asking she not use the school's name to advance her agenda.

"Ambition. Personality. Opportunity. Preparation. Carved into the face of the monumental Little Rock Central High School, four statues overlook the campus grounds, each representing a different principle for which the school stands," the letter begins. "Almost a century after these pillars were embedded into the walls of the building, Central High remains a beacon for these fundamental components of education. Today, because of Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and her omnibus education bill, the proposed LEARNS Act, these ideals are in danger."

In her Republican response last month to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address, Sanders mentioned Central as her alma mater while announcing she would release the details of her education plan the next day. The open letter -- with more than 1,300 signatures online since it was published Tuesday night -- calls her approach "completely antithetical to the values that Central High stands for."

www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/little-rock-central-students-walk-out-in-protest-of-sarah-sanders-education-bill/ar-AA18b3dC?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=51f7759810ea41e391028c72d1869552&ei=23