Below is a solidarity statement for the students who were suspended at Northwestern High in PG County Maryland yesterday. Please send it around far and wide to relevant lists and individuals.
This is an important fight on multiple fronts. One, we want to win justice for Ricardo, Shane, Will, and Omar - we want their suspensions reversed and no mark on their records. Two, this is about the racist, vastly unequal, bureaucratic and uncaring school system that fails students and teachers every day in this country. The fact that the administration cracked down so hard and so fast on these students shows how afraid those who run this system are of people actually standing up and demanding very basic things - running water in the bathrooms, or sufficient funding for ESOL programs. They would rather call the cops than enter into a civil debate about any of these issues. They immediately resort to force and repression rather than dealing honestly and openly with intelligent and passionate young people fighting for a better future.
The bigger the uproar we can make about this, the more likely these students are to have their suspensions revoked, and the more we can start to crack open the debate about public education in this country and shine a bright light on the disgustingly unequal and repressive nature of our schools.
Peter Lamphere
****
***Please forward widely!***
Defend Northwestern High Schoolers punished for standing up for a better education!
Demand that their suspensions be revoked!
Call Principal Batenga and other school officials - see info below
Solidarity statements and other inquiries can be sent to studentsforjustice1@gmail.com
***
Thursday, March 1st was a National Student Day of Action in which students around the country organized demonstrations protesting education budget cuts, educational inequality, and advocating for quality and affordable education for all.
Students at Northwestern High School in Prince George’s County Maryland planned a walkout and rally as part of the National Student Day of Action. Over 300 students planned to walk out to protest unsanitary conditions in their school, enormous class sizes, cuts to the ESOL program, and denial of promised pay raises for their teachers. The students also were asking for more teacher/parent/student input in the curriculum and demanding an apology for a group of Filipino teachers who were fired and deported after not having their work visas renewed.
The Administration at Northwestern discovered the walkout plan early in the day by trolling Twitter and put the school on lockdown. Police blocked the doors and canine units waited in the school's parking lot. They held student leaders in the Principal’s office all day, threatened them with expulsion, and at the end of the day suspended four students for 5 days requiring that when they return their parents must accompany them to classes all day.
Northwestern is a high school where a majority of the students are Black and Latino. The student organizers' mission was to walk out for a better school and a better education. Instead the Administration violated their civil liberties, squashed these students' free speech, and punished them for wanting to improve the school environment for themselves and their teachers. Instead of having a dialogue with students, the Administration at this school chose to make an example of several students and punish them harshly knowing this could affect these students ability to get into college.
We ask you to stand in solidarity with the students at Northwestern. We cannot let school officials succeed in punishing them for wanting changes to their school and quality education. Support these students by contacting the following school officials and demanding that their suspensions be revoked and removed from their permanent record:
Mr. Edgar Batenga
Principal
Edgar.Batenga@pgcps.org
William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D.
Superintendent
william.hite@pgcps.org
Amber Waller
Board of Education Member, District 3
amber.waller@pgcps.org
Jane Spence
Instructional Director of High School Performance
Northwestern Vice Principals:
Mr. Douglass Jones, x-2318 douglass.jones@pgcps.org
Ms. Patricia Cox, X-2237 patricia.cox@pgcps.org
Mr. Robert Pollard, X-2280 robert.pollard@pgcps.org
Ms. Jennifer Love, x2280 jennifer.love@pgcps.org
Mr. Arrington, x2265
This is an important fight on multiple fronts. One, we want to win justice for Ricardo, Shane, Will, and Omar - we want their suspensions reversed and no mark on their records. Two, this is about the racist, vastly unequal, bureaucratic and uncaring school system that fails students and teachers every day in this country. The fact that the administration cracked down so hard and so fast on these students shows how afraid those who run this system are of people actually standing up and demanding very basic things - running water in the bathrooms, or sufficient funding for ESOL programs. They would rather call the cops than enter into a civil debate about any of these issues. They immediately resort to force and repression rather than dealing honestly and openly with intelligent and passionate young people fighting for a better future.
The bigger the uproar we can make about this, the more likely these students are to have their suspensions revoked, and the more we can start to crack open the debate about public education in this country and shine a bright light on the disgustingly unequal and repressive nature of our schools.
Peter Lamphere
****
***Please forward widely!***
Defend Northwestern High Schoolers punished for standing up for a better education!
Demand that their suspensions be revoked!
Call Principal Batenga and other school officials - see info below
Solidarity statements and other inquiries can be sent to studentsforjustice1@gmail.com
***
Thursday, March 1st was a National Student Day of Action in which students around the country organized demonstrations protesting education budget cuts, educational inequality, and advocating for quality and affordable education for all.
Students at Northwestern High School in Prince George’s County Maryland planned a walkout and rally as part of the National Student Day of Action. Over 300 students planned to walk out to protest unsanitary conditions in their school, enormous class sizes, cuts to the ESOL program, and denial of promised pay raises for their teachers. The students also were asking for more teacher/parent/student input in the curriculum and demanding an apology for a group of Filipino teachers who were fired and deported after not having their work visas renewed.
The Administration at Northwestern discovered the walkout plan early in the day by trolling Twitter and put the school on lockdown. Police blocked the doors and canine units waited in the school's parking lot. They held student leaders in the Principal’s office all day, threatened them with expulsion, and at the end of the day suspended four students for 5 days requiring that when they return their parents must accompany them to classes all day.
Northwestern is a high school where a majority of the students are Black and Latino. The student organizers' mission was to walk out for a better school and a better education. Instead the Administration violated their civil liberties, squashed these students' free speech, and punished them for wanting to improve the school environment for themselves and their teachers. Instead of having a dialogue with students, the Administration at this school chose to make an example of several students and punish them harshly knowing this could affect these students ability to get into college.
We ask you to stand in solidarity with the students at Northwestern. We cannot let school officials succeed in punishing them for wanting changes to their school and quality education. Support these students by contacting the following school officials and demanding that their suspensions be revoked and removed from their permanent record:
Mr. Edgar Batenga
Principal
Edgar.Batenga@pgcps.org
William R. Hite, Jr., Ed.D.
Superintendent
william.hite@pgcps.org
Amber Waller
Board of Education Member, District 3
amber.waller@pgcps.org
Jane Spence
Instructional Director of High School Performance
Northwestern Vice Principals:
Mr. Douglass Jones, x-2318 douglass.jones@pgcps.org
Ms. Patricia Cox, X-2237 patricia.cox@pgcps.org
Mr. Robert Pollard, X-2280 robert.pollard@pgcps.org
Ms. Jennifer Love, x2280 jennifer.love@pgcps.org
Mr. Arrington, x2265
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