Posted on 03/31/2006 9:32:27 AM PST by NormsRevenge
With Internet postings urging a revival of student protests over immigration reform, California school administrators were ready Friday to lock down campuses or use other measures to prevent mass walkouts.
The school day began quietly in Los Angeles County, where the week began with the largest of protests that occurred in California and other states - some 36,000 students marching out of two-dozen school districts to influence Congressional debate on proposals affecting millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.
No walkouts were reported by early morning.
"Nothing. Maybe they're all pooped," said Monica Carazo, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest with nearly three-quarters of a million students.
At Jordan High School in Watts, attendance appeared down compared to a normal Friday, said Adriana McNally, an LAUSD local area administrator, as she watched students arrive.
McNally had an e-mail from the district that contained a posting from the myspace.com Web site that called for Los Angeles students to leave school at the end of first period.
Officials had a plan to lock down the school in event of a walkout attempt but it was uncertain if it would be used. McNally also said that if students wanted to protest they would be allowed to do so "inside the school walls."
Extra police were on hand to issue truancy citations to students, a tactic that was increasingly used during the week to curtail protests.
"I think we're going to play it by ear," McNally said.
Myspace.com, a social networking site popular with youngsters, listed walkouts and sit-ins in California and other states Friday - the 79th anniversary of the birth of the late United Farm Workers union co-founder Cesar Chavez.
"We gonna make history this month," said one posting.
Some school districts were closed for Chavez's birthday and one district in San Diego County had closed its senior high and middle schools in advance because of potential trouble.
At Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, administrators said they were juggling class schedule times in an effort to curtail walkouts.
"It's not that we're afraid of Cesar Chavez's birthday, it's just this particular time," Assistant Principal Roberta Mailman said Thursday.
In San Diego, school officials were pulling some employees out of the school district's offices and placing them on campuses in an effort to "help calm" students' emotions, said spokesman Steven Baratte.
On Thursday Cardinal Roger Mahony, an advocate of immigrant rights, urged students to honor the labor leader's memory by staying in school.
"In my opinion, student boycotts of school and other activities on our streets do not produce meaningful immigration reform," said Mahony, leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
"We gonna make history this month," said one posting.
The AWOL students should be suspended (or, in repeat cases, expelled) and required to make up their missing work. They can protest on their own time. Many of them are just happy to have any excuse to get out of school, and they'd be back fast if they thought there would be any consequences.
"We gonna make history this month," said one posting.
Clearly, they need to spend more time in English class than they do protesting.
The public schools in California are a joke. Take a look at the test scores these kids post. They give diplommas to semi-literates and then wonder why no one will hire them.
What we need is for the government to step in and require all minorities in California to be required to be hired by private firms. Each firm employing 100 people must take 10 minority graduates.
Can't wait til Hillary gets in.
Why keep them in? Let them out and lock the doors behind them. Good ridance.
Exactly. Oceanside, in San Diego County, closed its schools for today over fear of the protests. I think that's entirely ridiculous! It gives these punks too much power. Let them get arrested for being truant and see how they like that and their suspension/expulsion. It really isn't fair for them to be able to make up their work, however. Although they could be required to make it up for "no credit."
ap article UPDATE
some schools are seeing continued walk-outs.. smaller in scale but walkouts nonetheless
---
California students renew immigration protests on limited scale
http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/43611.html
JACOB ADELMAN, | Friday, Mar 31 2006 11:15 AM
Last Updated: Friday, Mar 31 2006 11:15 AM
Students protesting over immigration reform proposals marched in a few California cities Friday but there were no reports of school walkouts on the scale of the tens of thousands that began the week.
About 1,000 middle and high school students demonstrated peacefully in San Diego's Chicano Park and another 1,000 high school students marched in Bakersfield, authorities said.
Six of the Bakersfield protesters were suspended for arguing with police and security guards, said John Teves, spokesman for the Kern High School District.
In Fresno, about 50 middle school students walked out but were rounded up and taken to a truancy center, said police spokesman Jeff Cardinale.
"We've tried to offer the students other avenues to express themselves like a free-speech space and different forums," said Susan Bedi, a spokeswoman for Fresno Unified School District.
About 100 demonstrators gathered briefly in a light rain outside Los Angeles City Hall.
But the school day was passing quietly in Los Angeles County, where the week began with the largest of protests that occurred in California and other states - some 36,000 students marching out of two-dozen school districts to influence Congressional debate on proposals affecting millions of illegal immigrants in the United States.
"Nothing. Maybe they're all pooped," said Monica Carazo, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Unified School District, the nation's second-largest with nearly three-quarters of a million students.
At Jordan High School in Watts, attendance appeared down compared to a normal Friday, said Adriana McNally, an LAUSD local area administrator, as she watched students arrive.
McNally had an e-mail from the district that contained a posting from the myspace.com Web site that called for Los Angeles students to leave school at the end of first period.
Officials had a plan to lock down the school in event of a walkout attempt but it was uncertain if it would be used. McNally also said that if students wanted to protest they would be allowed to do so "inside the school walls."
Extra police were on hand to issue truancy citations to students, a tactic that was increasingly used during the week to curtail protests.
"I think we're going to play it by ear," McNally said.
Myspace.com, a social networking site popular with youngsters, listed walkouts and sit-ins in California and other states Friday - the 79th anniversary of the birth of the late United Farm Workers union co-founder Cesar Chavez.
"We gonna make history this month," said one posting.
Some school districts were closed for Chavez's birthday and one district in San Diego County had closed its senior high and middle schools in advance because of potential trouble.
At Van Nuys High School in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, administrators said they were juggling class schedule times in an effort to curtail walkouts.
"It's not that we're afraid of Cesar Chavez's birthday, it's just this particular time," Assistant Principal Roberta Mailman said Thursday.
In San Diego, school officials were pulling some employees out of the school district's offices and placing them on campuses in an effort to "help calm" students' emotions, said spokesman Steven Baratte.
On Thursday Cardinal Roger Mahony, an advocate of immigrant rights, urged students to honor the labor leader's memory by staying in school.
"In my opinion, student boycotts of school and other activities on our streets do not produce meaningful immigration reform," said Mahony, leader of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles.
I'm with you. What these kids are learning now is that behaving badly has only positive consequences. Where on earth are their parents?
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