Last Thursday, Oct. 1, students at the Morton West High School in Berwyn Illinois held an anti-war peace rally at ten AM. They'd planned it for a few days. About 70 students showed up, the student we interviewed, who asked to be anonymous, told us.
By the end of the day of peaceful, non-violent, courteous protest, around 30 students were suspended, told they would be expelled. One parent of a suspended 16 year old told OpEdNews, that being expelled does disastrous things to a student's life. "There's trouble getting a drivers license, getting into a good college, and they can't finish high school in Illinois. "
We asked about the planning that went into the protest.
The student replied, "There were about three days of planning and we just told some people and whoever showed up showed up. It was all by word."
Here's what the student reported to OpEdNews.com, how the day proceeded at the school:
Me and a few of my friends decided to have a peace rally from 10:00 to 2:20. We made signs promoting peace out of poster board and notebook paper.
We decided to do it on that day, because it was all saints day and all saints day is a day of peace in other countries.
At 10:00 we sat down together in the lunch room. All the deans were there.
They got all the police. We all locked arms when the police arrived and they were all threatening us. The superintendent wanted us all arrested, but the police didn't do it.
They tried to make compromises with us, to move. So we decided to go to the part of the building where military recruiters are on other days. . They put "caution tape" around us.
In their compromise with us, they said they would let people come by us.
My friend had a peace shirt on, so they tried to pin the role of leadership on him. We all just said that we are there on our own free will. They asked for our Ids. All the deans were picking out people individually and bringing teachers down to identify people. One student didn't give up her ID, but she just left and nothing happened to her.
About 70 students started. Then it got down to about 30, when some got scared.
In the compromise they made with us they said there wouldn't be any consequences if we moved to that sectioni of the building.
We started chanting when they moved us and put up the caution tape and the table barricades.
Once we moved, they wouldn't let us leave, even to go to the washroom. If we walked away, we couldn't come back. But some students would talk to the deans and then go back to the protest and they didn't get in trouble. The deans were trying to get the students with the higher GPAs out. I think those are the students who aren't facing any consequences.
The superintendent's statement, included below, claims that students were asked to move outside, and told that if they did, they would not suffer consequences, but that many of the students refused and ended up, later, moving to a place near the principal's office.
Rob Kall is executive editor and publisher of OpEdNews.com, President of Futurehealth, Inc, inventor . He is also published regularly on the Huffingtonpost.com. He is a frequent Speaker on Politics, Impeachment, The art, science and power of story, heroes and the hero's journey, Positive Psychology, Stress, Biofeedback and a wide range of subjects. He is a campaign consultant specializing in tapping the power of stories for issue positioning, stump speeches and debates. He recently retired as organizer of several conferences, including StoryCon, the Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story and The Winter Brain Meeting on neurofeedback, biofeedback, Optimal Functioning and Positive Psychology. See more of his articles here and, older ones, here.
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I am so proud of these young people. Everything I've read thus far about what took place last week seems to provide absolutely no basis for what the school authorities did to the students. What sort of education are these students receiving if their First Amendment rights can be abrogated so readily by an authoritarian school administrator?
by
paz love (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 70 comments)
on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 10:25:22 PM
These kids really are inspiring. Put the thing together, totally grassroots, got attacked and stayed strong with a core who stayed all day. A righteous sit-in against the war. Sign, support, spread the contagion of Stopping The War Now. And so excited that Cindy Sheehan is now standing with them.
by
Mars Caulton (1 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 82 comments)
on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 11:52:12 PM
This matter has been blown way out of proportion by a superintendant who is insecure in his position. The school board sould be cautioned to give him the pink slip as soon as possible. This whole episode could have been turned into a teaching moment in civics or political science by a school administration that had half a brain amongst them. If you think ignoring or aggravating parents is the way to a well run school system then you had better find another job.
by
Archie (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1097 comments)
on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 11:52:28 PM
It is fine that they were protesting. It is absolutely stupid that the students did not go to the principal or superintendent to get an okay and/or a list of guidelines for staging a protest. No student has the right to disrupt a school and call it his first amendment right. If a kid was running down the hall naked between classes I am sure he would be suspended for disruption of the school and no one would complain that his first amendment rights were violated. Most schools have some rules and regulations governing which behaviors are permitted and which ones are not.
These students were idiots in my opinion. First for not finding out what the guidelines for staging a protest and assuming that they, like spoiled brats wanting attention, could do whatever they want on school grounds. If they had asked and found out what the rules were I am sure they would have been able to stage an orderly, approved protest as they were trying to do evidently. If they had taken the time to find out the rules and the punishments for breaking those rules if they chose to do so then getting suspended would not come as a big surprise.
Second for not taking up the offer to move outside. It was close to the end of the school day and they would have gotten plenty of attention once school ended. They sealed their own fate by not moving. Dumb.
My son, when he was a baby, used to stage his own protests over going to bed by lying down on the floor and crying. I picked the little guy up, hugged him, and took him to bed, read him a story and turned out the lights. I guess now the ACLU would be knocking on my door for violating his rights. These kids were acting like my son did.
We have freedom of speech in this country that we all cherish and want to protect but there are limits. Too many people have decided that they can take over any gathering they want by calling it a protest and shout down anyone they disagree with without any consideration for others at the event. These people are behaving like jackbooted thugs.
Becaise these kids were idiots now we, the good old taxpayers, are going to have to foot the bill for their lawsuits and listen to their incessant whining. Imagine them doing that in Iraq in the 1990s.
by
Mad Jayhawk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 305 comments)
on Monday, November 5, 2007 at 11:59:21 PM
I believe this letter writer needs to be verbally slapped upside the head. Go to the blackboard and write 100 times, "The First Amendment protects free expression in a public place." Then, ask a professor at a local college if you can sit in on a class about constitutional law -- apparently sitting in on a h.s. class in civics won't help much, since the educatorless administration apparently has no concept that the First Amendment doesn't just skirt around a public high school. Rob did a great job in giving this story wider exposure.
walt brasch
by
Brasch (63 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 48 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 4:33:42 AM
I must differ with your interpretation and solution given to a perceived problem .. the authority driven methods .. of dealing with the growing pains of impending manhood .. explains why the world is in the mess it is.
Authority has constructed a very clever cage within which to encapsulate a mind then stifle its soul .. These students should have got a permit etc .. is one of the tools that are used to create and control the state bonsai mind ..
A bucket with holes in the side .. and as each young new rootlet emerges from a bucket hole .. we snip it off .. This is what Government play schools. kindergartens and grade schools are all about .. and when we add the electronic baby sitter .. the ever present TV .. We are literally sitting down with George Orwell and commence to live his 1984 vision .. look around .. its here!.
The major damage inflicted on a growing childs mind .. is like wet cement which dries by the age of 7 .. as Loyola the founder of the Jesuits said .. "Give me the child until it is 7 and I will show you the man" .. Goverment have us bent over the Loyola barrel ..
That such numbers of young and growing minds should have grasped the moral concepts .. which underlay their actions .. I must think .. somewhere some parents .. are doing the right thing by their children .. and have formed the matrix of character around the childrens minds .. Well done mum and dad a splendid job .. well done .. Bravo!
Ivor
by
Ivor Hughes (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 1:03:55 AM
Man and Womb Man the two sides of the same coin .. so I was not being .. what is known nowadays as Sexist .. in my Brythonic Heritage women always played a major role ..
that in this battle we must conquer or die. This is a woman's resolve. As for the men, they may live or be slaves."
Boadaceia 1st century A.D., England
So I hope I have not given any of the ladies offence .. because I can see the pale blue wisteria of our collective soul.
I do not believe that a state mandated education is a good thing .. the only moral mandate is for the teaching of reading writing and arithmetic .. then our young ones should be offered a broad liberal arts program .. to allow them to reach their potential .. when a person is given the means to follow their own star .. then in the doing many flower seeds are sown .. that is the purpose of education .. Here I hasten to add that the teaching of morality to our young ones is the sole perogative of parents .. rather than from the serried ranks of the .. "thou shalt not" .. type of mindset .. for this is nothing more than the exercise of control in a coercive manner.
That does not look very healthy to me .. what say you?
by
Ivor Hughes (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 4 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 2:05:12 AM
This is not only sad for now but certainly for the future. Not only for the students involved but what it says about idiotic authority figures enforcing illogical political in puts and rules.
I thought freedom of speech but also the right to assemble was part of what Americans consider important. It was a non violent sit in by students goodness sake! I guess this is what you get when you politicize everything.
Schools should be standardized accross the state or better yet the nation. Implicit in that standardized guidelines for suspensions and expulsions and a sense of reality.
As a parent of children in that school I would be more concerned, distressed about military recruiting on the campus and the superintendents hysterical over the top response to what was basically a harmless exercising of juvenile rights.
A few years back saying that she had gotten into trouble at high school and the Head master was going to call. He did, apparently a well known sports person now wanna be politician was coming to speak to her year level.
She had organized the other same year students to boycott the class despite instructions from the teacher.
Her objection was two fold 1. He was there to push competative sport (not exercise) 2. he had how to vote literature to hand out. Conservative politician. Wars, non green & racist policies.
She had to appologise to the teacher for ignoring an instruction...
No police, no suspensions et al it was over in an hour and half.
My response "don't ignore teachers instructionsunless you're prepared for the flak! As for your moral stand good on you standing up for what you believe." (a chip of the old block)
by
Andris (4 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 531 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 2:03:18 AM
Rob, Well this takes me back to 1971. I was teaching at Maine South, Park Ridge Illinois, a sister school of Hillary's. A group of kids asked me to support a V.Nam. protest and I did :-). They found a way to see me on my way for that, even thought I had massive support from parents and the kids. Same as it ever was. Never have I known such fear as in school principals. The asst. principal was a man with a reputation for having no control of a class when he taught so he "got a degree" and sat in his office and watched the CCTV, his most used word was "insubordination". I was a bit shocked by the mention of military recruiters. I guess I have been out of the country for a long time. What has changed doesn't seem to be for the better. Fear and flags. I'll not be returning home in the near future.
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 3:48:43 AM
should sue the school for abuse ( not letting kids to even go to the washroom) and torture. They, the parents are the ones to blame because when kids are up to such things the parents are to be WITH THEM! Remember how Jimmy Stewart's character did that. And by the way, the parents and adults who right now think the kids are idiots better think again because those kids would be ruling us all in about 10 years. And they do not forget.
by
Mark Sashine (50 articles, 19 quicklinks, 242 diaries, 3437 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 7:44:25 AM
apparently the parents are involved now. But they still had to be there at the event itself, participate in it. The students could have planned it in advance but there is no way the parents did not know about it. And as a parent who had similar problem ( not of that magnitude) here is an advise- the students did suffer trauma- concentrate on that and only that.
by
Mark Sashine (50 articles, 19 quicklinks, 242 diaries, 3437 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 7:49:13 AM
I agree that these students have every right to protest. But somehow if you're for peace in this world, it really doesn't matter & may actually be quite risky as we have just witnessed. Here in Ohio, we have specialty license plates for virtually every cause & organization. However, there is not one for "peace". I would love to see one & would gladly pay the extra fee for it. Then I started thinking. With all the super patriots, street punks, fundamentalists & other ignoramuses out there, no doubt my car would be vandalized & have threatening letters placed between the wiper blades. Just for advocating peace! It' s a lament that one can not express his or her philosophy without paying even a small price!
by
iman (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 89 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 8:48:25 AM
It is better by far to pay a small price now than to pay the big price later. It does take courage to stand up and be heard, regardless of the price, but that is what courage is all about. Even in small doses.
Diane
by
Diane Cadonau (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 11 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 1:52:27 PM
I think we need to create a vision where students in schools across the country show their support of these particular students by staging sit-ins and walk-outs. I see a glimmer of hope in the youth today, it needs to shine. Pledges and petitions are great tools, but the best response to repression is increased resistance.
If a whole new generation of resisters were to emerge on the scene, what kind of power would that unleash? We are facing global disaster with a war machine aimed at Iran. We are facing a new level of repression at home where people are fearing American fascism. If we don't stand up and fight now while it's still possible, what will the future hold with world war III on the horizon and police in riot gear keeping the people in line?
Mark James
by
Mark James (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 10:07:04 AM
For letters or phone calls of support, please see information below: Dr. Ben Nowakowski, Superintendent District 201 2423 South Austin, Cicero, IL 60804
(708) 222-5702
Mr. Lucas, Principal Morton West High School 2400 S. Home Ave. Berwyn, IL 60402 708-222-5901
Mr. Jeffry Pesek, President Board of Education, District 201 3145 South 55th Avenue Cicero, IL 60804 708-802-1863
These children have every right to protest for peace. It will be them and others just like them who will be expected to fight and die or be maimed for life in the aggressive actions brought on by the powerful elite. Who has a better right or reason to want peace over the insanity that is brought by those who can order them to die?
The schools have become little police states under this dictatorial administrations twisted rules and it seems the administrators of these schools have lost all common sense. This could have been the perfect opportunity for teaching how to gather peacefully in public view with signs and about how government should be run and how to write to their elected about ending aggressive actions, and they blew it. What they did teach was oppression.
by
Rae (0 articles, 1 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 218 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 4:22:33 PM
I would suggest that all the remaining students in school under this oppressive school administrative system, everywhere, go ahead and protest the war or at least the treatment of these students. Perhaps the school system can expell all of the students in their state. Oh, by the way, there won't be any jobs for the school administration.
by
Lance L. Landon (3 articles, 1 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 29 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 4:31:43 PM
I was horrified when I read that the school had 3400 students. This is not a human scale. I don't think kids should be forced to attend such monstrous institutions. It virtually guarantees that they'll not be treated as more than barely human. We need to insist that schools be on a human scale.
by
Bill Samuel (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 270 comments)
on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at 6:33:45 PM
Chicago H.S. Students Face Expulsion Following Antiwar Sit-In By Chicago Indymedia - November 4, 2007
Berwyn, IL - November 2, 2007. Over 70 students participated in a sit-in against the Iraq War on All Saint's Day, Thursday, November 1st. It began third hour when dozens of students gathered quietly in the lunchroom at Morton West High School and refused to leave. The administrators and police became involved immediately and locked down the school for a half hour after class ended. Students report that they were promised that there would be no charges besides cutting classes if they took their protest outside so as not to disturb the school day. The students complied, and were led to a corner outside the cafeteria where they sang songs and held signs while classes resumed.
Despite a police line set up between the protestors and the student body, many other students joined the demonstration. Organizers say they chose November first because it is the Christian holy day called the feast of All Saints and a national day of peace. They wrote a letter and delivered it to Superintendent, Dr. Ben Nowakowski who was present at the time, stating the reason for t
