Barbara Lawlor, Nederland.  They wanted to let the community know that weren’t giving up.

Over 100 Nederland Middle Senior High School students staged a walkout from the school at 10 a.m. Tuesday. At first small groups of students rambled out the front doors, many of them with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing in class.

The weather accommodated the protest, lots of sun, no wind and mild temperatures. Soon the students were streaming out of the building, many of them carrying signs demanding that football coach Aaron Jones be hired back for next season.

During the week before winter break, coach Jones was told his contract would not be renewed for the 2017 football season. News traveled fast in the school community and before the end of the week, football players and their parents were meeting to discuss why this had happened and what they could do about it.

Boulder Valley School District policy does not allow discussion of personnel issues, so both NMSHS principal Carrie Yantzer and athletic director Emmy Murphy could not explain why they made the decision they did.

After 11 years of devoting himself to the team and the players coach Jones is admired and respected for his dedication to the athletes and his ability to help them work through some of the problems in their lives. He supported their efforts on the field and in the classroom, showing them how to be leaders and to absorb the lessons that life tossed at them.

A campaign of letter writing ensued through the winter break. Parents, athletes and former students wrote letters to the editor of the Mountain-Ear and emailed the BVSD administrative staff.

The administrations of the district and the school remained adamant about not discussing reasons for not renewing Jones’ contract.

Frustrated, a group of students planned to have a sit in, to take over the student center in a peaceful protest, announcing to the school and the district that they were not going to stop advocating to bring Jones back as a coach.

One of the football players said that emails had been sent to about 50 people and he was surprised when he saw the large group of students that had gathered in the student center. The kids were told that they weren’t allowed to protest in the school, but they could go outside and rally their forces.

The students marched out of the school raising their signs: “We want Jones back” “Not my athletic director,” “We love Jones,” “Without Jones, the field will be barren,” “We are Jones’n for our coach back.”

Assistant principal Greg Guevara, Athletic Director Emmy Murphy and the school security guard stood by, watching and keeping in touch with those administrators in the building. The students were excited and loud but peaceful.

Chanting, “Bring Jones Back,” the students found their voice. Most of them were there to show their support, some of them saw a bunch of kids walking out of school and joined them because…”It’s a good way to get out of classes.”

After standing in the parking lot and the entrance steps, the students began walking off of school grounds and headed down the Eldora Road towards Nederland. They held their signs high and yelled their chants at passing ski traffic and were rewarded now and then by honking horns.

By this time the Nederland Police Department had arrived. Sgt. Larry Johns hit his blue and reds and escorted the line of students as they wound their way into the town. They entered the Tebo Shopping Center parking lot and formed a circle.

They marched around in a circle, coming up with various Jones chants for about 10 minutes and then they headed out onto the highway and down First Street, making the businesses and visitors aware of their presence and their mission.

After making a loop around Snyder Street, the students marched back onto the highway and headed back to the school. They now had Chief Paul Carrill bringing up the rear. Traffic was slowed to follow the march back onto the Eldora Road, back to the school.

When they arrived, they were told that four students at a time would be allowed in to go back to class. They were reminded that no protests were allowed inside the school.

Around 1 p.m. principal Yatzer reached out to the “Panther Family” to inform them of the walkout. She explained the actions that the school took to ensure the safety of the students. She referred to the walkout as a peaceful protest and said she contacted district and local law enforcement agencies for student safety.

“In BVSD, student protests that remain peaceful and do not disrupt the learning environment are supervised and occur under the protection of first amendment rights.”

Students were allowed back in class after undergoing usual procedures to enter the school.

Senior football player Kenny Shankey said that the whole point of the walkout was to let administrators know that, “Jones just needs to be returned. It’s that simple.”