Students say teacher Timothy Locke was placed on leave after a conversation about the Feb. 14 Parkland shooting last week.
Students at Cherry Hill High School East protested at school Monday morning after a history teacher at the school was placed on administrative leave.
Students protested to have history teacher Timothy Locke reinstated to his position. Cherry Hill East senior Justin Prechodko, the student who organized Monday’s protest, said Locke was placed on administrative leave shortly after some of his history classes had discussions about the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last week. Prechodko is in one of Locke’s three AP world history classes.
“That’s really the greatness of his class,” Prechodko said. “He gives you room to have freedom of his thoughts.”
Prechodko said a student in one of Locke’s other classes went to school administrators expressing concern about Locke’s comments, leading to him being placed on administrative leave. Prechodko didn’t know exactly what was said in that class, but felt Locke didn’t saying anything frightening in their class.
“He really didn’t say anything out of the ordinary, threatening, or anything that should put him on leave,” he said.
In a phone conversation with The Sun, Locke confirmed he was placed on administrative leave, but he declined to make any further comment. In a story published by Jason Nark on Philly.com Monday morning, Locke said he was placed on leave after one of his history classes discussed the Florida shooting and a student became upset. Locke also said in the story he was only concerned about the security in his own school.
Cherry Hill Public Schools public information officer Barbara Wilson said school officials would not comment since it is a personnel matter.
Prechodko said students were being called to the office last Friday about the issue. When Prechodko learned Locke was being placed on leave, he and other students became upset and opted to organize a protest.
“I sacrificed part of my weekend to create a petition,” he said. “I had kids in the school this morning sign the petition. I have over 500 signatures in just six hours of school.”
Prechodko passed around a paper petition and said he gathered more than 500 signatures throughout the school day. The students conducted a sit-in inside the school hallways early on Monday. Shortly after the sit-in began, Prechodko said an announcement was made Cherry Hill East Principal Dennis Perry would meet with students for a discussion in the school’s auditorium.
Prechodko estimates the discussion lasted a little more than hour and produced little insight into the issue. In a video of the meeting, Perry is seen telling the students he was unable to talk about personnel issues regarding a specific staff member.
“Perry was just deflecting questions,” Prechodko said. “The impression I got from the meeting was he was doing damage control. They had to keep things private.”
Prechodko said the students have still not officially been told what happened to Locke, but many of them are continuing to support the teacher. Prechodko said he has reached out to Locke personally over the past few days to show his support.
News about Locke has spread around the Cherry Hill community the past few days. Some of Locke’s former students have pledged their support, such as Samuel Selig, a member of the Cherry Hill East class of 2009. Selig was a student of Locke in AP world civilizations and said Locke was the best teacher he ever had at the school.
“Mr. Locke deeply cares for his students and treats them like people, not students,” Selig said in an email to The Sun. “He always had an open-door policy and wanted to listen to your problems and guide you in a way that was reasonable for all parties involved.”
“Mr. Locke opened up to my class about his past transgressions which ended with him living on the streets for awhile,” Selig continued. “It was eye-opening, very raw and real, and you could tell he was so passionate with everything he did. He definitely changed my life for the better, as I always felt safe in his presence.”
Selig later said he was upset at the district’s handling of the situation and said he would also like to start petition in support of Locke.
