About 100 high school students made their way to the State Capitol on Wednesday in an effort to talk to Gov. Asa Hutchinson and voice their displeasure with the way the state has dealt with the Little Rock School District since the state took it over and disbanded the local school board in January 2015.
The students were demanding the district's immediate return to local control.
Anika Whitfield, a community activist who helped organize the student protest, said although the students, who came from Little Rock Central, Parkview High School, J.A. Fair, and McClellan, stood outside the governor's office for about an hour, they were unable to meet with the governor.
At one point, she said, Bill Gossage, deputy chief of staff for Hutchinson, said he would try to get one of the students present an audience with the governor, which Whitfield said was unacceptable.
"We're not going to have a silo meeting," Whitfield said. "He's going to meet with all of us or none of us."
Whitfield said the actions of the governor and his staff were tantamount to "denying democracy."
Sam Triplett, a senior at Little Rock Central High School, described the mood around the school this week as tense, with everyone waiting to see what will happen when the state stops recognizing the Little Rock Education Association, the teachers' union, as the sole collective bargaining agent for educators.
"Everyone knows the enormity of the situation that's going on right now," Triplett said. "We know it's a David versus Goliath type of situation."
Pamela Smith, spokeswoman for the Little Rock School District, said absentee numbers for the district were not immediately available, but that around 25% of students were out Wednesday.
Read Thursday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.