By UnitedNJ | Originally Published at Blue Jersey. Npovember 04, 2013 at 06:06:42 AM EST

A lot of Newark high school students boycotted school for a while today. And they did it, because they’re unhappy about Gov. Chris Christie, Newark Schools Superintendent Cami Anderson and what’s happening to public education in their city. And because they’re too young to vote against it.

More than 300 students and their supporters snarled traffic during morning rush hour, making a chaotic commute for anybody near the Gateway Center Plaza. Then they marched down Mulberry Street to Cami Anderson’s house to demand she return the $50k bonus Christie gave her on top of her salary. The students want Christie and his minions to know they’re messing up.

Read more of why student and community leaders decided to do this; Christie’s intentional underfunding of public schools, his refusal to follow the funding formula, and dismissal of local control of public schools.

Student-led actions, and movements, matter. There’s an imperative to them, authorized by the age of the participants. As far as I’m concerned, they are to be listened to, by their targets – Christie and Anderson – but by the rest of us too. Young people will tell you what they need from us to create the world they want and deserve. Our job is to consider their imperatives when we set our priorities. Chris Christie isn’t listening, and Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook check doesn’t fix it. Because they’re all heading in the wrong direction.

Some of the students in their own words:

“The education of Newark’s students directly affects the future of the city. Superintendent Cami Anderson, Governor Christie’s state appointed superintendent, is purposely ignoring the cries echoing across the city, thus condemning Newark into a cycle of ignorance and poverty. If the government won’t support its own students, then together we’ll take the fate of NPS into our own hands.”

~ Davian Rodriguez, Science Park High School senior

“The boycott and protest demonstrated that the youth in Newark Public Schools care deeply about our education. We’re putting our hormones to use and we’re rebelling against the politicians that don’t care about us – specifically Chris Christie who taunted public school advocates a few months ago by boasting that he ‘doesn’t care what the community thinks.'”

~ Senior Luis Marquez & member of Newark Students Union

Listen to the elders, too:

“Students of the Newark Public Schools stand together and speak in a clear voice. These students deserve a seat at the table in the decisions that shape our future. This should not be condemned in Trenton, boardrooms, corporate headquarters, or by so called reformers. It should be determined in the kitchens, living rooms, and communities in which we live. Nineteen years of Democratic and Republican meddling from Trenton is far too much. Students are not corporate playthings and they deserve the respect afforded to the rest of the citizens in our state.”

~ Josephine Stewart, grandparent of a Newark student