May 14, 2014, hundreds of Camden students rallied on the front steps of the administration building in protest of deep staff cuts at the struggling city school district and the superintendent announced plans to lay off 272 staff members including 206 teachers . The walkout started at Camden High School around noon. Students left school early and traveled by foot two miles to the administration building in downtown Camden. Students held signs and chanted as they made their way to North Front Street, where they shouted for Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard to come out and address their concerns. The crowd — which included band members playing music — spanned the length of Haddon Avenue at times.​ Parents and community activists were helping students through traffic  as they walked near Cooper University Hospital, but made it clear this was a student-motivated rally."The students of Camden public schools are tired of being in the middle of this war," Dickerson said. "They feel like all the teachers they love are being fired and they are not being included in the process." It was at that moment Camden Parent & Student Union was born. Camden's children lifted their voices and we vowed to be the protectors and amplifiers of those voices for them and their families.