Hoover High Students March to District Building in Protest of Coaches' Firing

The day after staging a walkout, dozens of Hoover High School students on Friday morning marched to the Board of Education to protest the firing of two soccer coaches.

Hoover High Vice Principal Jeremy Martin said two walk-on coaches did not have their temporary contracts renewed, adding the school wants to go in a "different direction."

This decision led hundreds of students to walk out of class from 9:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m. Thursday in a peaceful demonstration.

On Friday morning, students met with the San Diego Unified School District’s director of athletics as well as a leader of youth advocacy for the district.

The students marched 3 miles from the school to the Board of Education, asking the board to reinstate the soccer coaches, one of whom had been at school 20 years.

The students shouted “We want Papo! We want Papo,” referring to one of the coaches, while walking to the district building.

Board officials told the students that they couldn’t overrule the school principal’s decision.

Many kids were baffled about the terminations. One student told NBC 7 that students were told that the most tenured coach, Papo Santos, had not met goals set for him by the school.

“We’re trying to take this program to the point where it can reach more kids in this community,” Hoover High Principal Joe Austin said, noting the coaches’ goals were not met.

Austin said he hopes to enlist the help of the students to hire new coaches. There is no timeline yet in selecting new coaches.

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