PG High School Students Suspended After Protest Supporting Teachers

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)Four students at Northwestern High School in Prince George’s County were suspended last week after staging a walkout over issues including denial of promised pay raises for their teachers. The protest occurred on Thursday, March 1, 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. Over 300 students at Northwestern 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. But after Northwestern administrators discovered the walkout plan, they put the school on lockdown, 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 five days. Supporters have mounted a campaign demanding that the suspensions be revoked and removed from the students’ permanent record. Solidarity statements and other inquiries can be sent to studentsforjustice1@gmail.com. - image courtesy of occupyed.org