I sincerely hope that tomorrow’s headline reads “200 Live Oak students given 3-day detention for walking out of class”.
As I mentioned in another post, I don’t believe that any of the Live Oak High students are suffering deleterious effects to their psyches as a result of the events of May 5. However, if I am incorrect in my assumption, and the result was the need to participate in a two-hour protest walk on City Hall, it should have been scheduled for after-school hours. Public schools districts have a duty and obligation to provide the means for an elementary and secondary school education to the children of this country. However, said same children are obligated to follow the rules and guidelines, and fulfill the requirements of the school at which they are enrolled students. This includes attendance on the proscribed days and hours of instruction.
In the words of the student protesters, they walked out of class, en masse, and were marching to “show their Mexican-American pride”. This was not an event planned, executed, or endorsed by the school or the district. The student-protesters left their classes and the school in the middle of the scheduled school day, without the permission of their teachers or administrators, in direct violation of school policy.
An march to demonstrate ethnic pride could have been held at any time, and there was no need or excuse for the participating students to leave their classes. By all accounts, many of these same students were supportive of the school’s decision to discipline the students who had violated the school’s newly-instituted Cinco de Mayo dress code. I would hope that the student protesters are as open to the prospect of discipline resulting from their deliberate flaunting of the rules.
