Northampton High School students walked out of class yesterday and marched to city hall to protest budget cuts to the school’s theater department, the Gazette reports. About 100 students joined the walk-out in opposition to the city’s plan to eliminate or reduce more than two dozen jobs within the district. In particular, theater students were protesting the proposed reduction of hours for a popular theater teacher, Dave Grout. Students occupied city hall for about a half hour before Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra spoke with them and said that she heard their concerns. Schools across the country are facing the possibility of a steep “financial cliff” in the next fiscal year as federal pandemic aid programs come to an end, but the expensive and complicated new realities of teaching remain. The School Committee will meet tonight to discuss, and possibly approve, the proposed cuts.