As students and buses drove up to Manhattan High Thursday morning, a large mass of educators, parents, legislators and community members stood huddled together alongside the Big Blue Marching Band in the school’s parking lot. At the bottom of the hill stood Chemistry teacher James Neff with previous principal and current Senator Tom Hawk as they welcomed district members to Manhattan High’s National Education Administration’s Walk In For Public Education.

While the Walk In did not originate in Kansas, it’s significance to Kansas schools is striking. Designed originally for underfunded schools in poor areas like Chicago, Detroit and Milwaukee, the Walk In For Public Education was used by teachers and administrators as a way to show their solidarity through times of struggle. With recent legislative decisions having great impacts on Kansas schools, solidarity is something teachers need the most right now.

“Right now in the state of Kansas, in public education we feel not supported by some people in the legislatures and the government,” sophomore principal Angie Messer said. “This is to show that we are supported and that there are people behind us and that we are all trying to show that we are all trying to support each other in this.”

The Walk In was directed and planned by Neff, Manhattan High’s NEA president. Neff was contacted by other NEA officials and was told that Manhattan High was chosen as one of two Kansas schools to participate in this event. Neff’s goal for the event was simple: reenergize teachers.

“Any time you can get teachers to be passionate about what they are doing again, that means they will be more effective in the classroom,” Neff said. “That should translate to better classroom environments and more learning. Will this last throughout the year? Probably not. But it’s a good way to get things started. It’s a good thing to do for now; it just gets people’s spirits up as we start to get into the grind.”

While part of the goal for this movement was to spread positive energy, the main and more serious mission was to advocate for change.

“The only way to counteract the bad things that are happening at the state level is if we as teachers come together and be a strong unified voice,” Neff said. “If we don’t advocate for public education, that means nobody is advocating for students. If we don’t advocate for public ed, we aren’t advocating for students. And the only way to do that is to come together and be a unified strong voice. So one 35,000-strong voice is a lot better than a single voice. There are 35,000 public school teachers in Kansas. If that voice became unified and strong, the legislature couldn’t do what they want to do to public ed.”