See call to action by below.
The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)
November 26, 2002
Petaluma Suspends 50 Student Protesters
by Jose L. Sanchez Jr. and Robert Digitale
About 50 Petaluma High School students who walked out of classes Wednesday
to protest U.S. policy on Iraq have received one-day suspensions.
Some students and their parents said Monday the suspensions were unfair
because students at other Sonoma County high schools who also staged protest
walkouts were not suspended.
Petaluma school officials did not make the decision "lightly or
capriciously," said Tom Joynt, director of alternative education and child
welfare and attendance.
"It's the obligation of the principal to ensure compliance with attendance
rules," he said.
"I am heartened that young people are learning the responsibility of being a
citizen, which often means dissent from popular opinion," Joynt said.
But he said the protesters also learned another lesson: "Civil disobedience
can have a consequence, such as in this case suspension."
Allowing students to walk out without consequences would set a bad
precedent, he said.
Petaluma High officials said they provided other opportunities for the
protesters to express their views, but they have an obligation to maintain
order at the 1,540-student campus.
"I don't think we should have been suspended," said Rosie Heartte, 17, one
of the protesters. "One of our main purposes was to educate students about
the issue and we did that."
"If we go to war, it's absolute that innocent civilians are going to die and
that young Americans will be sent over to fight," she said. "We need to
explore other options, continue to make use of the U.N."
The walkout occurred at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, a half-hour before a rally
organized by school officials in the school's open-air quadrangle to give
students a chance to express their views on Iraq.
Students who walked out of their classes early were guided by school
officials to the multipurpose room, where they listened peacefully to
several speakers.
On Thursday, the students who had walked out were summoned by school
officials and told they would be be suspended for one day Monday.
"What is very sad ... is that these are young adults who attempted to
negotiate with the administration prior to walking out and they were
completely shut down," said Rachelle Heartte, Rosie's mother.
Petaluma High Principal Michael Simpson said he made every attempt to offer
students an alternative to the walkout and to urge them to remain in class.
He spoke to students that morning over the school's intercom system as part
of the daily announcements.
"I did tell them that if they walked, there would be consequences," he said.
In addition to arranging for the lunchtime rally Wednesday, Simpson is
providing a forum today for the expression of views on Iraq.
About 150 students from Santa Rosa High walked out of classes at 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday and marched to a downtown rally in Old Courthouse Square,
administrators said. None of those students was suspended, Assistant
Principal Bill Blackerby said.
He said that the students were given unexcused absences and that officials
never considered suspending the protesters.
None of the estimated 60 to 70 students who walked out of classes at Analy
High School in Sebastopol was suspended, officials there said.
The walkouts and rallies were part of a national Student Day of Resistance
initiated by Not in Our Name, an anti-war group founded after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks to protest U.S. foreign policy.
Carl Wong, former superintendent of Petaluma city schools and the
superintendent-elect of Sonoma County schools, said school districts across
the county were notified by students of their intentions to stage the
anti-war protests.
He said students were warned that if they participated in the walkouts,
there would be a range of possible consequences for leaving class without an
excuse.
Wong said some teachers used the coming protest as a "teachable moment,"
talking about the protest and asking students to consider their choices.
Rosie Steffy, 17, one of the Petaluma walkout organizers, said suspension
was a price she was willing to pay to bring attention to an issue she
considers vitally important.
Without the suspensions, the issue would not have received as much attention
from the press, she said.
"I do think (the suspensions are) reasonable," she said. "But I can't help
wondering why the other schools didn't see it the same way."
Staff Writer Randi Rossmann contributed to this story.
From xochitl x - redxochi@yahoo.com
We pledge alliance with those who have come under attack for voicing opposition to the war..."
50 Petaluma High School students who walked out of classes Wednesday to protest U.S. policy on Iraq have received one-day suspensions. We call on everyone to use the phone numbers, fax numbers and emails of the Sonoma Schools listed below to make your voice heard!
The walkouts and rallies were part of a national Student Day of Resistance initiated by Not in Our Name, an anti-war group founded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to protest U.S. foreign policy. The Nov. 20th National Day of Student-Youth Resistance brought forward the powerful voice of a generation. In NY 2, 000 people walked out of classes and held a speak out in downtown Manhattan. Their actions and the actions of the students in Sonoma and all over have sent a message to our government that they do not have a mandate for war on Iraq and that there is a new generation determined to stop them in their tracks.
Last spring George Bush and Co. sent through new legislation to allow the military recruiters onto the campuses to send a generation to kill and be killed for their war of empire. And when these youth step foward to say they want no part of a future of never ending war on the world, persecution of whole peoples and silencing of dissent -- THEY SUSPEND THEM! On the same day that Bush signs the draconian Homeland Security Bill into law gathering up the full machinery of their state power to silence and crush all opposition -- the first victims are the youth. Clearly they have a great deal to fear from students who see through all the lies and deceit to see that this war has nothing to do with September 11th, safety or security.
A group of young people took matters into their own hands, refused to sit still, stay in class, go along with business as usual as the lives of hundreds of thousands of people hang in the balance.
They have taken up their responsibility as people of conscience to boldly call out the illegitimate, unjust and immoral nature of what our government is unleashing on the world and put their bodies upon the machinery of war and repression. These youth are where they should be, where the youth have always been: at the barricades, on the frontlines. Like peoples around the world, we take heart and are filled with pride at the courageous actions of these young people. They are standing in the honored tradition of civil rights activists and activists against the vietnam war. On the side of justice, freedom and peace.
We call on all people ~ teachers, students, parents, activists and all other people who are inspired by the Sonoma High School students and are outraged by the principals attack on them to take action. LET THEM KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! Enclosed are the phone numbers to the Sonoma Schools. Please call them, fax them, email them, show up at their offices. If these youth are allowed to be punished for doing the right thing then who is next?
Another world is possible and we pledge to make it real. These youth are doing just that. Making it real. We salute them.
Information on Sonoma County High School Participants on NION National
Day of Student Action, November 20th
Sonoma State University
webcontact@sonoma.edu
VP Student Affairs š Rand Link
rand.link@sonoma.edu
Director of Campus Life and Judicial Affairs š Sharon Dzik
dzik@sonoma.edu (707) 664-2838
Administrative Manager š Tom Wagner
Tom.wagner@sonoma.edu (707) 664-2838
Analy High School
6950 Analy Ave Sebastopol, CA 95472
General phone š (707) 824-2300
Fax š (707) 824-2306
Principal š Martin Webb š (707) 824-2314
www.analy.org
Petaluma High School
201 Fair Street Petaluma, CA 94952
Phone š (707) 778-4651
Fax š (707) 778-4767
Principal š Michael Simpson š msimpson@pet.k12.ca.us
www.petalumahighschool.org
Santa Rosa High School
1235 Mendocino Ave. Santa Rosa, CA 95401
Phone š (707) 528-5291
Fax š (707) 528-5724
Principal š William Waxman š bwaxman@srhs.srcs.k12.ca.us
www.santarosahigh.org
Page created November 25, 2002 by Charlie Jenks; updated December 1, 2002.
