[Texgreen] Peacemonger students prevail against warmonger school board

[Roger Baker]

STUDENTS TELL SCHOOL BOARD, "WE'RE HERE TO SAY WE'VE HAD ENOUGH"

http://oreaddaily.blogspot.com/

Student protesters in Seattle brought a school board meeting to a =20
halt. A group of about 70 students protesting military recruitment in =20=

their schools marched into the meeting before Acting President =20
Darlene Flynn could even take roll, chanting: "Yo School Board, =20
what's up? We're here to say we've had enough."

Some students covered with fake blood collapsed on the floor, then =20
were carried around the room.

The school board refused to talk to the kids except to demand that =20
they get out.

"It's OK, it's OK. I want to say this is what democracy looks like. =20
But this is not what a school board meeting looks like," said board =20
member Darlene Flynn. Interesting comment.

After an unheeded final warning, board members left behind the rowdy =20
crowd and moved the meeting to a quiet room, angering the students.

"You should be ashamed! You should be ashamed!" the students shouted. =20=

The students said recruiters target low-income and minority students.

"I've had recruiters lie to me and my friends," said Shanay Salas, =20
one of the protesting students. "They say you'll never go to combat. =20
They say free college, jobs for life but really these things aren't =20
true."

After the demonstration, the students spoke to the meeting's =20
attendees in support of a proposed policy they wrote that would allow =20=

for a district-wide recruitment fair once a semester. Hardly =20
unreasonable.

The following is from Youth Against War and Racism.

Seattle Students Shut Down School Board Demanding Military Recruiters =20=

Out of Schools
By Philip Locker, Dylan Simpson, and Marianne Mork

=93What do we want? Recruiters out! When do we want it? Now!=94 chanted =20=

over 70 antiwar protestors as we marched into to the Seattle School =20
Board meeting Wednesday night. The spirited protest, called by Youth =20
Against War and Racism (YAWR), demanded the school board finally take =20=

real action against military recruitment in our schools. As the local =20=

TV news King 5 said, it was =93intended to be political high theatre, =20=

and it certainly was effective.=94 Another reporter commented: =93it was =
=20
the most dramatic anti-military recruitment rally to date.=94

YAWR is calling for military recruiters to be banned from Seattle =20
public schools. But to stay within the legal paramaters of the =93No =20
Child Left Behind=94 law, we are demanding that all recruiting be done =20=

at a district-wide recruitment fair once a semester. This would =20
create equity between the access to students that the military, =20
college, and job recruiters have. Currently, military recruiters have =20=

a massive budget and a huge advantage over college and job =20
recruiters. A district-wide recruitment fair would also stop military =20=

recruiters from carrying out their predatory tactics within our =20
schools and disproportionate targeting of schools that are =20
predominantly made up of poor and minority students.

Student activist Kristin Ebeling said: =93Our public schools should not =20=

be military recruitment stations for the Iraq war. Instead of wasting =20=

$500 billion on a war for oil and empire, we need money for jobs and =20
education.=94

High school students, teachers, parents and community activists =20
rallied outside the school board for an hour. With the start of the =20
meeting the rally moved inside, energetically chanting and sitting in =20=

at the front of the room. To bring the reality of the war home, some =20
students enacted a =93die-in,=94 lying across the floor covered in =
blood, =20
while the school board politicians huddled at the side of the room.

Addressing the board and the whole room, Shanay Salas and Ramy Khalil =20=

from YAWR then explained our demands to restrict military recruiters. =20=

We urged that the board amend its agenda for 10-15 minutes to discuss =20=

our proposed policy. Unfortunately, the board refused to discuss our =20
policy, nor would they start the meeting until we ended the sit-in =20
and moved away from the front of the room.

Board member Darlene Flynn condescendingly lectured the students: =20
=93This is what democracy looks like, but it=92s not what a school board =
=20
meeting looks like, and we have to have a school board meeting.=94 This =20=

statement, ironically exposing the undemocratic nature of the board, =20
brought loud jeers from the demonstrators. With the protestors =20
holding their ground, the board hurriedly left and reconvened in a =20
back room closed to the public.

This comes against the background of the board refusing to enforce =20
their own policy to restrict military recruiters that was passed two =20
years ago. After a city-wide student walkout of 800 students on April =20=

18 to protest military recruitment, attending numerous school boards =20
meetings and sub-committee meetings, and still having the board =20
refuse to let us speak, we decided to take matters into our own hands =20=

and organize a sit-in. However, the meeting could have easily =20
continued if the school board had simply been willing to grant our =20
modest request to discuss our proposed policy at their meeting for =20
10-15 minutes.

Since the board refused to listen to the public, we decided to =20
continue the meeting and took public testimony from those who had =20
already signed up to testify. A number of school bus drivers spoke =20
about their struggle to unionize to overcome the terrible wages and =20
conditions they face, which the board is refusing to support. While =20
some members of the audience complained that we had disrupted an =20
official board meeting, an overwhelming majority of the crowd voted =20
to support our decision to continue the meeting in defiance of the =20
board members.

While school board members claim that they cannot implement our =20
policy because it would mean losing $40 million a year in federal =20
funds, the fact is that our policy was carefully constructed to =20
remain within the legal confines of the No Child Left Behind law. By =20
restricting military recruiters to a recruitment fair on equal =20
grounds with college and job recruiters, this policy would have =20
absolutely no effect on federal funding.
(See relevant section of No Child Left Behind and our proposed policy =20=

at: http://groups.google.com/group/novapeaceclub)

Wednesday=92s school board action was a major success in bringing real =20=

pressure to bear on the board and raising the issue of military =20
recruitment in the public consciousness. All the local TV news gave =20
very prominent coverage to the protest (see list of links below). But =20=

to win we will need to keep up the pressure on the school board and =20
build an organized, active antiwar movement. This fall YAWR is =20
organizing a major student walkout, which we are trying to spread =20
nationally, to show that business as usual will stop until the =20
military is out of Iraq and out of our schools.

Get active with Youth Against War and Racism and the fight against =20
military recruiters! Please come to the next YAWR meeting on Sunday =20
July 1, 4-6pm, at Uptown Espresso (2504 4th Ave and Wall St.) where =20
we will be planning our next steps.

Contact us at: www.yawr.org * redeye76bw@hotmail.com * (206) 526-7185

We want to thank all the organizations that made this protest =20
possible: Nova High School Peace and Justice, Lake Washington High =20
School Peace Club, Renton High School Youth Against War and Racism, =20
Seattle Central Community College Students Against the War, Team =20
Victory, and Socialist Alternative.

Please donate!
Support YAWR=92s need to make leaflets, posters, buttons, and T-shirts =20=

by sending donations payable to Youth Against War and Racism to 5032 =20
21st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105.

Support First Student Bus Drivers!
We fully support the struggle of the First Student bus drivers to win =20=

a union and decent wages, benefits and conditions. It is an outrage =20
that the school board will not stand on the side of workers=92 basic =20
rights. We are calling on antiwar activists, students and workers to =20
come to a rally in support of the First Student bus drivers on Friday =20=

June 22, 9am =96 12pm, at 130 South Kenyon Street.