top
East Bay
East Bay
Indybay
Indybay
Indybay
Regions
Indybay Regions North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area North Coast Central Valley North Bay East Bay South Bay San Francisco Peninsula Santa Cruz IMC - Independent Media Center for the Monterey Bay Area California United States International Americas Haiti Iraq Palestine Afghanistan
Topics
Newswire
Features
From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature

High School Students to hold ANTI-WAR RALLY on campus!!!

by CCT/ACLU/SPJ
These articles are about a victory gained by <i>students for peace and justice</i> in regards to an anti-war rally that they wanted to hold on campus. The school's administration had denied them their rights (though the military was granted the right to have a "rock band" play on campus). The ACLU were contacted after the students were "suspended" for "alledged" charges of harrassing military recruiters. The days they recieved on campus suspention however was coincidentally the same day their rally was supposed to be held. ACLU was contacted, and the students won the right to hold a rally, and their suspentions were removed from their files. This case also paved open the path for an OPEN FORUM on campus, meaning all clubs now have the right to.....<i>free speech</i>.
dv.jpg
Here are the articles regarding this issue:

Deer Valley High School Students Win First Amendment Victory

Student Peace Rally Will Be Held in the Fall

BY: ACLU OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA/Stella Richardson

SAN FRANCISCO—A group of high schools students have won the right to hold a peace rally at Deer Valley High School following an agreement reached Wednesday with the Antioch Unified School District. The ACLU of Northern California represented the students in their talks with the District.

Deer Valley High School’s Students for Peace and Justice (SFPJ) asked permission in February to hold a peace rally in the fall, and planned to include a folk singer, student speeches, leaflets, banners and information regarding the war in Iraq and other issues. Although students at Deer Valley High commonly use the school’s sound system for campus activities, and the school has even allowed the U.S. military and radio stations to play music on campus, the principal denied the students’ request.

The principal expressed concern that the anti-war message was disrespectful of the military and might offend people.

“The California Legislature and the U.S. Supreme Court have recognized that high schools are important forums for free speech and political debate,” said Julia Harumi Mass, staff attorney with the ACLU-NC. “As students prepare to participate as full citizens in society, schools should encourage independent thought and dialogue about current events, even controversial ones. School administrators certainly cannot silence students because they disagree with the students’ message, which is what happened here.”

With the assistance of the club’s advisor, the students submitted a revised plan for a rally on March 17 and the principal initially agreed to allow the rally to go forward. However, the principal then restricted the students to a rally without the use of the school’s sound system, and the day before the planned rally, withdrew permission for the event altogether. The school also placed the two primary organizers of the rally on two-day on-campus suspensions, starting the day of the planned rally.

Under the agreement, the students will be allowed to hold a peace rally during all three lunch periods on campus in September; use the school’s sound system for recorded music and speeches; display banners and posters as part of the event; and distribute literature at the rally. The students’ speeches will not be subject to any prior review by the school administration.

“The war in Iraq is being waged in our name and all we want is the right to voice our opposition at school,” said Amir-Ali Sarkeshik, co-founder of SFPJ who was suspended on the day of the planned rally. “We felt betrayed by the school’s attempt to silence us, luckily the First Amendment can’t be silenced!”

Patrick Edelbacher who was also suspended added: “We really believe this is a victory for high schools students not just at Deer Valley but at other schools. If we prohibit forum and debate within our public schools, our democratic ideals will become meaningless. In a time of war and low military recruiting numbers, students are faced with life altering choices and deserve the information needed to make educated decisions. That is why it is so important that all students have the opportunity to hold rallies like this."

The District also agreed to remove Edelbacher’s and Sarkeshik’s suspensions from their records and to rescind a district-wide policy that requires students to get prior approval for literature they pass out on school campuses. The district’s concessions followed the ACLU-NC’s filing of tort claims and a demand letter on behalf of the Students for Peace and Justice and seven of its individual members.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Antioch student rally cleared amid talk of legal action

By: By Rowena Coetsee

A Deer Valley High student club prevailed this week when the school district, under threat of a lawsuit, agreed to allow the club to hold a political rally.

In a meeting with the American Civil Liberties Union and half a dozen club members, Antioch Unified School District officials on Tuesday agreed to allow Students for Peace and Justice to stage an anti-war rally on campus this fall.

The district indicated that it was not interested in spending money to pursue the matter in court, said ACLU attorney Julia Harumi Mass, who represented the club's two founders.

Patrick Edelbacher and Amir-Ali Sarkeshik admitted they were surprised by how quickly the district backed down when confronted with the prospect of legal action.

But they were also satisfied with this victory for free speech.

"It was 100 percent in our favor," said Edelbacher, 18, the club's vice president. "It was exactly what we had been asking for the whole time."

Neither Deer Valley High School Principal Jo Ella Allen, nor Superintendent Dennis Goettsch, nor school board president Claire Smith was available for comment.

Edelbacher and Sarkeshik, 17, formed Students for Peace and Justice last fall. They were hoping its broad-based mission would make it harder for school administrators to block their protests on the grounds that issues being addressed were beyond the club's scope. They also wanted to pave the way for other student groups.

Trouble reared its head, however, when the club asked then-interim principal Allen for permission to organize a campus peace rally in February.

She twice denied the request, saying anti-war statements might not only be inaccurate but derogatory, offending other students and creating a volatile atmosphere.

Although Allen relented after conferring with Goettsch, she told the club that it could not use a public address system at the gathering.

The day before the scheduled protest, however, Edelbacher said, Allen called him and Sarkeshik out of class and ordered them to spend the next two days confined to a classroom in an on-campus suspension. She took the action after a military recruiter alleged the students had harassed him.

Allen also changed her mind and again banned the rally, said Edelbacher, who instead took part in an after-school demonstration across from the Deer Valley High campus.

The club also contacted the ACLU, which informed Allen she was violating the students' rights to free speech under the U.S. and state constitutions as well as California's Education Code.

On June 20, the organization sent the Antioch school district a letter spelling out the terms it had to meet to avoid a lawsuit:

Come September, students must be allowed to hold on-campus rallies during all three lunch periods as well as afforded the use of a sound system for speeches and recorded music.

The speeches do not require prior approval from school administrators.

The district must expunge the suspensions from Edelbacher's and Sarkeshik's records.

District officials also voluntarily agreed either to rescind or revise a district policy requiring students to obtain permission before distributing literature on campus.

sources include: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/12139042.htm(you have to register to CCTs, do it, it's FREE) http://www.aclunc.org/pressrel/050714-deervalley.html
Add Your Comments
Listed below are the latest comments about this post.
These comments are submitted anonymously by website visitors.
TITLE
AUTHOR
DATE
Swirlgrrl
Sun, Aug 7, 2005 2:15AM
ggg
Thu, Jul 21, 2005 3:09PM
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!

Donate

$110.00 donated
in the past month

Get Involved

If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.

Publish

Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.

IMC Network