Area schools act quickly to educate students about politics and
direct action
Last week high school students throughout the area and the state
got a lesson in civil disobedience as thousands of students
participated in impromptu walk-outs to protest proposed legislation
that would make illegal immigrants felons.
Area schools act quickly to educate students about politics and direct action
Last week high school students throughout the area and the state got a lesson in civil disobedience as thousands of students participated in impromptu walk-outs to protest proposed legislation that would make illegal immigrants felons.
On March 27 administrators at San Benito High School got word that students were planning a walkout. Instead of just letting students leave campus, the staff offered the students an outlet for their outrage through a forum where they were allowed to express their feelings and encouraged to direct their energies in more positive ways.
“I tell you today what I tell you every day, you’re important but not important enough to change policy. For now, the most important thing you can do is graduate high school and then put yourself in a position where you can affect change. Today you’re 15, but tomorrow you’re the leaders, that’s how you affect change,” said Mickie Luna, President of the local chapter of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). Luna was called in by the high school to address the students in an effort to show them how they can positively effect change.
Migrant Education Director Frank Muro facilitated Monday’s discussion and the administration even brought in Hispanic student leaders to talk to students about what they could do to effectively get their voices heard. Associated Student Body President Stephany James talked to the students, in Spanish, about getting their voices heard. She said that she’d taken a leadership trip to Washington, D.C., and talked with Congress representatives.
“You don’t get your voice heard by walking out, only by graduating and helping make change happen,” James said.
SBHS Principal Debbie Padilla told the 120 students present at the Monday forum that if someone had approached the administration and said that they wanted an opportunity to express their ideas, the administration would have made time to set up a more organized venue with the whole student body, but she said that for the students who chose to participate in the forum, there would be no negative consequences.
Brenda De Alba, the senior class president and Christina Rios, a Link Crew commissioner, also all addressed the students and encouraged them to educate themselves.
“Don’t be lazy,” Rios said. “Did you come here because you didn’t want to go to class or because you don’t like this law? Don’t be lazy! Do all you can not to let this law pass; write letters. Bring letters to the principal and she’ll get them to LULAC.”
Elsewhere, 350 students marched off Gilroy High School on Monday and 50 students marched off Sobrato High School, in Morgan Hill. Principal Richard Knapp said that instead of punishing the 70 or so students who participated in the walk-outs, they’re giving them options; the students who were passionate about the cause could take part in a two-hour after school forum later in the week discussing immigration laws, or the students could be suspended. Knapp said that they were incorporating the lessons into all the social studies lessons scheduled for last Thursday.
Finally, another group of students approached Knapp after the fact and were scheduling an activity for Friday during lunch, in which students would be given the opportunity to speak on an open microphone about their feelings on the proposed laws.
“We have a teachable moment here, it also allows for the opportunity to empower oneself through constructive ways and engaging conversations,” Knapp said.
Gilroy Principal Jim Maxwell agreed that this was a moment in history too valuable to waste. Maxwell said that he heard what San Benito High School had done and was very impressed. Gilroy was still looking for ways to incorporate the protests into the curriculum, but didn’t have any clear examples of how.
At Anzar High School administrators talked to the students and incorporated discussions about the legislation into lesson plans. Principal Charlene McKowen said that the students had been learning how they can affect change as part of their world history curriculum.
When 50 of her students did walk out on Monday not only did McKowen know about it, she supported them.
“The walkout was during school hours, but it was during the sustained reading schedule, so it was pretty perfect in terms of minimizing the impact,” McKowen said. “We were proud of the way the students conducted themselves, we’d been studying the bill in a few of our classes.”
Despite the fact that San Benito successfully curbed the walkout attempt on Monday, the staff was less successful on Tuesday. Vice Principal Santiago Echore estimated that as many as 200-300 students walked off campus on Tuesday, but it wasn’t the 200-300 students who left that will likely make an impact, it was the 40-60 students who stayed on campus and attended another forum.
The students all started out in the auditorium where the administration gave them the opportunity to again voice their concerns and informed the students that possibly as a result of all the recent protesting an estimated 11 million people will be given amnesty from prosecution, but that was not enough for some.
The more rowdy students tried to agitate the rest of the crowd and marched out of the auditorium and off campus.
Meanwhile, their counterparts who stayed in the auditorium listened to counselor and MECHA club advisor and Jim Caffiero. He was joined by Cesar Flores, a local activist and performer with El Teatro Campesino.
“My take on it, was that these kids were reacting out of fear. They don’t know the issues. I think it’s a step in the right direction, writing letters. The pen is mightier than the sword,” said Flores.
He singled out one of the students at the forum who was jumping up and down and exciting the rest of the crowd and challenged him. He said that the rest of the kids, the ones who stayed at the forum, were taking steps in the right direction.
“My take on the kids, the ones who wanted to listen, to feed their brains, they know what’s going down,” said Flores.
Among the students who stayed in the auditorium, students like Arturo Villanueva knew what was happening, but they made the choice to stay on campus, get an education and get their voices heard.
“I knew that they were doing it just to get out of class. I wanted my voice heard. I didn’t want to just be seen as uneducated,” Villanueva said. “The people at the forum [on Monday] were really concerned, but they didn’t know what to do. Today [Tuesday] seemed like more of the troublemakers.”
Another of the students who chose to write a letter to Sen. Diane Feinstein was 16-year-old Claudia Elias. She said that drafting a letter to Feinstein made her feel important, like she had a voice. Her friend, Cecily Muro, 17, said that she was appreciative of everything the administrators did to offer them the forums and she was appreciative of everyone who stayed and didn’t walk out. In fact, she said, now that she’s aware of the group, she’s thinking of joining the campus club MECHA.
The students who did walk out, for the most part, behaved in a civilized manner. Police reported one incident of a bottle being thrown at a police car and a few problems with students not staying out of the streets.
Unfortunately, many of the students didn’t understand why they were marching in the first place. Debbie Colclasure, a resident of Memorial Drive in Hollister, saw the protestors marching in front of her house on Tuesday and attempted to ask a few of them why they were protesting, she said that she was treated with disrespect and in at least one instance, threatened. None of the marchers could tell her why they were marching and she said it was too bad, since a few years ago, she said she might have been right there with them.
“I wanted to know what it was about, so I asked them. Some of the students were holding white pieces of paper that read 4437. I walked up to one of the groups and asked what the protest was about and they just walked past me. Then another group and they said ‘This’ and pointed to the sign. A group of girls cussed me out and said ‘you’re not a Mexican, you wouldn’t understand. You’re the reason this is happening.’ Another one said ‘You want us to kick your ass?’ It was the first time in 41 years I felt compelled to call a newspaper.”
LULAC’s Luna said she wished that some of the students who walked out had given Latino adults in the community the opportunity to speak to them.
“We must speak out, but there are positive ways to get results,” said Luna. “The message I had was stay in school, write letters. The open forum was a good idea.”
Luna said that members of her organization don’t march and carry flags just because they want people to see them; they have a message they want to get across.
“If you’re not a citizen, become one. You’re here. The letters are powerful, I’m hopeful more students will write letters,” said Luna.
