LA Times: Oakland High Students Interrogated and Coming Events

Coming Events:

1. Tonight, PVNRC Forum on Youth and the Military: 6-8:30, First
Congregational Church of Oakland, 27th and Harrison Streets, http://www.pvnrc.net

2. Thursday: Followup Meeting for May 8th's Education not Incarceration
Rally, 7-9PM, Neibel Proctor Library, 6501 Telegraph (just north of
Alcatraz) http://www.may8.org

3. SATURDAY: 10AM - 1:30PM COMMUNITY SPEAKOUT TO STOP THE EXIT EXAM AND
PROVIDE EQUAL EDUCATION
First Congregational Church of Oakland, 27th and Harrison Streets
http://www.caljustice.org Childcare and translation provided

4. Tuesday, May 22, 4:30PM,Coalition to Respond to the Oakland High
Incident, Oakland High School, Room 311, 1023 Macarthur Blvd.

A coalition is building to respond to the Secret Service interrogation of
two Oakland High School students. Our next meeting will be on Tuesday,
May 22 at 4:30PM at Oakland High School, Room 311, 1023 MacArthur Blvd,
E-mail jzern1 [at] yahoo.com for more information or rides from MacArthur BART.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-booted13may13,1,4536861.story
THE STATE
a d v e r t i s e m e n t




Secret Service Interrogation of 2 Students Sparks Furor
A teacher reported boys' alleged threats to shoot President Bush. Some say
questioning by the federal officers violated the youths' rights.
By Marcelo Rodriguez
Special to The Times

May 13, 2003

OAKLAND — An interrogation by U.S. Secret Service agents of two high
school students here for allegedly threatening President Bush has resulted
in a barrage of criticism against the Secret Service and some school
officials. The case has added impetus to a bill before the state Assembly
that would require school officials to inform students of their rights
before they are questioned by law enforcement officials.

The alleged threat by two 16-year-old boys at Oakland High School was
reported to Secret Service officials in San Francisco by their former
English teacher, Sandy Whitney.

Whitney called the Secret Service the day after a class discussion where
she allegedly heard one of the students say, "We need a sniper to take
care of Bush" and the ot her reply, "Yeah, I'd do it," according to
published reports.

Whitney did not return phone calls. According to a representative of
Whitney's union, the teacher is not talking to the media on the advice of
Oakland High School Principal Clement Mok. Mok also declined to comment.

The two sophomores, who have not been identified, have denied threatening
Bush and said they were just joking around during a routine class
discussion on current affairs.

"They were traumatized by the ordeal," said Larry Felson, a teacher at
Oakland High School who was contacted by the students after the April 23
questioning. "The agents used profanity and made threats against their
immigrant parents. They were told, 'You don't have any rights, we own
you,' when one of them asked for an attorney."

According to Felson, each student was "grilled for 45 minutes to an hour"
in the principal's office and Mok sat in on the questioning. "The
principal clearly should have contacted the parents immediately. He didn't
even talk to them until three weeks later."

"That's just outrageous," said Greg Hodge, president of the Oakland School
Board. "If one of my kids were to make an inappropriate comment, I would
certainly want to be called first, before the Secret Service."

Gen Fujioka, an attorney with San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus, who is
providing legal advice to the two students, believes Whitney "overreacted"
and the Secret Service agents "acted way out of bounds."

"The kids were told that their parents could be deported," Fujioka said.
"It left them traumatized."

John Gill, a special agent with the Secret Service in Washington, D.C.,
confirmed that the two students were questioned.

"Anytime the issue of a threat to the president of the United States comes
up, the Secret Service has to look into it," Gill said, declining to
comment on the status of the investigation.

Several Bay Area teachers' groups hav e denounced the Secret Service,
Whitney and Mok over the matter. The Oakland Education Assn., the union
representing Oakland's 4,000 school teachers and support staff, issued a
statement calling the interrogation a "blatant infringement of students'
free speech and academic freedom. Students have a right to discuss their
opinions on any subject without the fear of reprisal or threats of arrest
from law enforcement."

Both Hodge and Oakland School Board member Dan Segal said the board plans
to investigate the matter. "We will take any action that is appropriate,"
Segal said.

Some educators and politicians, including Felson and Hodge, have thrown
their weight behind AB 1012, a bill now before the California Assembly
Appropriations Committee, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and
sponsored by Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento). It would
require high school principals to tell students that they can request that
a legal guardian be present befor e they are made available to law
enforcement officials.

Steinberg believes that the Oakland High incident proves that his bill is
needed.

"And if there's no imminent danger, it seems reasonable to me that the
school should allow the students to contact their parents," he said.

The bill breezed through the Assembly Education Committee and is scheduled
for another committee hearing Wednesday. But it is opposed by some law
enforcement groups, such as the Los Angeles Police Protective League,
because "it would tie the hands of law enforcement from making legitimate
inquiries."

Similar legislation passed twice before but has been vetoed both times by
Republican governors, George Deukmejian in 1989 and Pete Wilson in 1998. A
spokesman for Gov. Gray Davis said Davis has not decided his position on
the Steinberg legislation.

Oakland Schools Supt. Dennis Chaconas said that, though he "would have
preferred the teacher had contacted the principal b efore calling the
Secret Service," he understands the motivation.

However, Chaconas added, since Sept. 11, the district has been asked by
Oakland police to report such threats.

Fujioka said the students and their parents are "looking at several legal
options."