While many schools chose to enable their students to participate in Wednesday’s anti-gun walkout, a school district in New Jersey is handing out two-day suspensions to students who participated.
Sayreville School District warned their students that disciplinary action would be taken against those who ditched class under the guise of supporting gun control. “We are going to follow our student code of conduct in terms of discipline associated with whatever action occurs,” said Kevin Ciak, Sayreville Board of Education president.
Ciak determined suspension as the appropriate disciplinary action, explaining that students who walked out had failed to follow administrative direction.
It’s estimated that just two dozen students participated in the protest in the whole district, which contains six elementary schools, and one middle and high school each. According to Ciak, “Some participated within the building, some left the building but remained on school property and a handful — two or three — actually left school property. We’ll be following our student code of conduct for those categories.”
One sophomore at the high school, Rosa Rodriguez, blatantly said, “I don’t care if I get suspended [for walking out.]” She also expressed disappointment in her peers who didn’t ditch. “If you were gonna come outside in the first place, you should have still came outside,” she said. “Just because you didn’t want to have these consequences and stuff, just stay inside, you should have came outside and proven them wrong.”
It’s unclear just whom Rodriguez thinks she proved wrong by blatantly failing to follow rules.
As for whether or not the suspensions are an attack on the students’ right to protest, district superintendent Richard Labbe explained that parents had been encouraged to sign out their children who wanted to participate. However, “allowing and/or supporting them to walk out of our schools on a specific date and at a specific time is not safe and will cause a major disruption to the education of those students, as well as those who wish to remain in class learning,” he said.
Of course, the ACLU has already jumped at the opportunty.
Sayreville plans to suspend kids who walk out. Skip & see a movie? Likely detention. 20-min protest? 2-day suspension. That’s wrong. & absurd.
It should be a moment for teaching, not discipline.
If you’re punished for political expression, let us know. https://t.co/MaQB5sDoGP
— ACLU of New Jersey (@ACLUNJ) March 12, 2018
If students had wanted to express their honest desire for more gun control, then they have every right to do so under the First Amendment. However, many students “involved” in this “protest” simply wanted an excuse to cut class – and the Sayreville School District preempted that by warning of suspensions.
Do you agree with the decision to suspend students who walked out? Share your thoughts and comments below!
