West County High School students walk out of classes over name change reversal

This was the calm before the storm.

West County High School principal Shauna Ferdinandson and other members of her staff stood outside the building at 11:05 Thursday morning. Fourth period was about to begin, but roughly 300 students had other plans.

Word had gone out on social media the night before that a walkout was in the works. The protest was in response to the West Sonoma County Union High School District board’s 4-1 vote to cancel plans to rebrand the school. As early as next year, West County High will go back to being known as Analy.

Already upset by losing their campus, many former El Molino students saw the board’s decision as yet another slap in the face. So they walked out — joined by a surprising number of former Analy students intent on showing solidarity with their ex-“ElMo” friends and classmates.

“Here we go,” said Ferdinandson at 11:09, as students began flooding onto the lawn in front of the high school.

Emmit Cannady, a once and future Analy student, described the board’s decision as “a kick in the teeth” to his El Molino classmates.

One of them is D’Ayona Jerome, a junior whose family has a history at El Molino going back to her grandparents. By abandoning its promised plans to rebrand West County High, in response to threats from Analy alumni to withhold donations, the board was “taking our hearts out and stomping on them,” Jerome said.

The board’s push to rebrand the school began in March after trustees, faced with mounting budget shortfalls, voted to consolidate what was then known as Analy High School with the district’s El Molino High School in Forestville.

The district closed the Forestville school ahead of this school year in an effort to address the budget deficit.

In May, the board approved West County High School as a temporary name for the Sebastopol campus, with plans to launch a rebranding effort after seeking input from students.

Board member Angie Lewis dissented following a discussion that lasted nearly two hours and reflected the tumultuous year of protests, lawsuits and recall efforts in response to the consolidation.

Chanting, wielding signs, waving at motorists who honked in support, the group made its way to Main Street, then turned left toward the town square, some cutting through the parking lot of the Umpqua Bank and Sonoma Chocolatiers. Tagging along was a CHP officer on a motorcycle who used his microphone to remind them to stay on the sidewalk, and only cross streets when the light was green.

“We were promised a new school and a new community, and that’s something we’ve been working very hard to build,” said ex-El Molino student Tyler Sword, a linebacker and quarterback on the football team who took a leadership role in the protest.

“And we finally felt like we achieved that. But now the board is deciding to throw that out the window. We feel disrespected and undermined, and we feel like our voices aren’t being heard.”

Among those in agreement was Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, whose 5th District encompasses West County. Hopkins took the board to task for not living up to its promise.

“Rebranding didn’t fail,” she wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday night. “The school board failed to fulfill its promise. They promised to rebrand the high school and create an inclusive high school for all of West County. They went back on that promise tonight.

“Here’s the craziest thing,” she continued. “The kids figured it out. They figured out how to work together in the best interest of those most impacted by a sudden school closure. The adults, apparently, couldn’t.

“The football and sports teams worked really hard to come together under a new West County High identity. All of that good spirit and collaboration is erased under this decision. Not to mention the waste of money (for a supposedly broke school district) on re-branding, and then un-branding. I guess the West County High uniforms will now be a collector’s item.”

The marchers made a stop at the town square, where Sword — who started two games at quarterback this season, and is accustomed to raising his voice in front of crowds — led them in some call-and-response cheers:

Q: Who are we?

A: WEST COUNTY!

Not for long.

Junior Elizabeth Witteman, a former Analy student herself, was angry that Analy supporters had a disproportionate amount of influence in the decision.

“It’s very frustrating that they don’t hear our input on something that is affecting us,” she said.

“They promised us a lot,” said Asa Bush, a junior who attended El Molino last year, “but we got nothing out of it.” The meager consolation prize the board was offering, she said, “was a new name that would help unite us, and they took that away from us, too.”

Sophomore Karis Morasch, fresh off her star turn as Agnes in the school’s theatrical production of “She Kills Monsters,” expressed “a sense of betrayal.”

The key decision makers, she believes, “had a choice between our futures and their pasts, and they chose themselves.”

Back at the high school, Sword led a few more cheers, and the protesters dispersed under the eye of Ferdinandson, their principal.

Despite the disruption, she did not seem upset with the students. “When I see them being kind, and acting with the right intentions,” she said, “I can’t help but be incredibly proud of them.”

You can reach Staff Writer Austin Murphy at austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @AusMurph88.