U.S. News

At the head of the protests is sixth grader Rainier Long, 12, an avid reader who was outraged to learn Carlos Gilbert Elementary would be cutting library time in half — to 30 minutes a week — this year to make more time for technology education.

“It’s not going to help kids to spend more time on screens,” Rainier argued. “Reading will really stimulate your senses and make you a lot — I don’t wanna say smarter — but smarter,” he said.

Students were told that after implementing technology classes, the school didn’t have time in its schedule this year to allow all grades an hour of library time.

His next move? Staging protests during recess — the only free time students have during the day.

Rainier used sticks, tape and graph paper to craft signs with messages saying, “Stop the shortening!” and “We want to read!”

When the recess protests had little effect on administrators’ attitudes, he further escalated the strategy — convincing a quarter of his class to stage a sit-in protest in the library, staying for the full hour his movement is calling for.