Article in the November 27, 2002 Petaluma Argus-Courier
Local teens join nationwide war demonstration
Casa, PHS students walk out of class in protest against U.S. policies in the Middle East
By LOIS PEARLMAN, ARGUS-COURIER STAFF
Some 150 Petaluma students were among thousands nationwide who protested an impending U.S. war against Iraq by walking out of class last Wednesday.
The day of student protest was called by the New York City-based organization, Not In Our Name, which has formed to oppose U.S. policies in the Middle East.
Organizers at individual schools planned their own demonstrations. In Sonoma County students walked out of class at Petaluma, Casa Grande, Santa Rosa, Analy and Montgomery high schools, Santa Rosa Junior College and Sonoma State University.
At Casa Grande, approximately 100 students left class around 11:30 a.m.
Some of them regrouped at Petaluma High School a short time later where they had hoped to join other students protesters from that school. But they were prevented from entering the Petaluma High campus by school administrators and a Petaluma police officer.
Meanwhile, Petaluma High students held a teach-in at the school's multi-purpose room following their 11:30 a.m. walk-out, then staged a peace rally at the center of the campus during lunch.
Petaluma High protester Dylan Hosey said he felt that protesting the war was "a greater priority than sitting in the last half hour of third period class."
The lunchtime rally drew a crowd of several hundred students, some opposed to the war, some in favor of it and some who were just looking for more information.
Special education teacher Karen Tamborski, who watched the rally from the sidelines, said she approved of the activity.
"I think it's a good idea for people to have a chance to voice their opinions," she said. "I hope the students take on more activities. I think they should make statements and say how they feel."
English teacher Martin Hogue agreed.
"It's an opportunity to speak their minds in a public setting," he said. "I'm impressed with these kids. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and speak your mind."
But for some students speaking their mind meant expressing their support for a war in Iraq.
"We need to go to war because we don't want Iraq to come and bomb us," said Petaluma High student Ashley Samborn.
Another student, Auston Fitzjarrald, was wearing a hastily printed sign on his chest that said, "Let's go to war. Return our pride."
"They attacked and we need to retaliate," Fitzjarrald said. "We've been at war with Iraq since last Monday."
Others agreed with the organizers of the rally.
"I think the anti-war people have a better argument," said Petaluma High senior Akiko Ezuka.
Petaluma High students who participated in the walk-out before the rally were suspended from school Monday. Assistant principal Jake Colburn said it was an appropriate punishment because the administration had met with the walk-out organizers and had "given them a directive to stay in class."
Colburn also said he confiscated some of the flyers protesters hung around the school because it is against school policy to post unauthorized material.
Many, including parents of some of the protesters, objected to the suspension, but student organizer Rosie Steffy said she didn't mind.
"We were taking a moment out of our day and making a sacrifice," she said. "The administration, in a way, made our point for us by following through with the punishment."
Student protesters at Casa Grande, however, got off with a lighter sentence. They were given a cut and required to spend four hours at Saturday School.
(Contact Lois Pearlman at lpearlman@arguscourier.com)
Article in the December 4, 2002 Petaluma Argus-Courier
Peace group supports suspended students
By LOIS PEARLMAN, ARGUS-COURIER STAFF
A Sonoma County peace group has organized a demonstration scheduled for 7:15 a.m. this morning in support of Petaluma High students who were suspended for protesting a U.S. war against Iraq.
About 50 students at the high school walked out of class Nov. 20 to demonstrate their objection to a U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Although hundreds of students at other Sonoma County high schools participated in similar walk-outs, the PHS students were the only ones who received a one-day suspension. At Casa Grande High, the approximately 100 students who staged a walk-out received a class cut and Saturday school.
"We are undertaking the action in support of them, to tell them how proud we are of them," said protest organizer Susan Lamont, a member of the county-wide group, Not In Our Name Sonoma County. "It appears that they might be being punished for the stand that they have taken."
PHS student Patrick Sullivan, one of the PHS students who walked out, said he felt the suspension was "unfair.
"Our administration really went out on a limb to punish us. Normally we would get detention or Saturday school. Normally we wouldn't be suspended the first time," he said.
Sullivan said the suspension could have repercussions for some students because certain colleges require students to include suspensions and expulsions on their applications. Sullivan said he applied to Stanford and had to check a box saying he had been suspended, but the application also allowed space to explain the reason for the suspension.
But Petaluma School District board member Lou Steinberg defended the suspension, saying state law allows it as a possible consequence for disrupting class.
"District policy leaves it to the site administrator," Steinberg said. "If students walk out of class they are subject to suspension."
PHS officials said students were given an alternative of holding an outdoor rally during lunch and warned that there would be "consequences" if they went ahead with the walk-out.
Sullivan said some of the organizers were threatened with suspension by school administrators before the walk-out, and other students learned about it through word-of-mouth.
According to Lamont, some Sonoma County students have pledged to walk out of school if the U.S. invades Iraq. There is also a direct action civil disobedience planned for next week in Santa Rosa, which will include people of all ages.
(Contact Lois Pearlman at lpearlman@arguscourier.com)
Article in the February 1, 2003 Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Petaluma High reverses student suspensions
Citing desire to avoid costly legal fight, officials clear records of 52 who left class in anti-war protest
February 1, 2003
By TOBIAS YOUNG
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
A group of Petaluma High School students won their fight to overturn suspensions for leaving classes to protest a possible war in Iraq, students and school officials said Friday.
Fifty-two students were suspended for one day after they walked out of class Nov. 20, joining student anti-war demonstrators across the country.
Some of the students contacted civil rights lawyers, saying the penalty exceeded the regular unexcused absence given to students who cut class. They said a disciplinary record could hurt their chances of getting into college.
The Petaluma City School District initially refused to back down, saying the suspensions were appropriate because the students told the district of their plans and were warned of "serious consequences."
Suspensions weren't meted out at any of the other Sonoma County schools where students joined the protest.
Petaluma High offered the students a lunch-time forum as a school-sanctioned alternative to the walk out.
On Tuesday, the school district relented, mailing letters to the students to let them know the slate is being wiped clean.
However, district officials said they remain convinced that suspensions were an appropriate and legal consequence, saying they backed off to avoid a potentially costly legal challenge in tough economic times.
Tom Joynt, the district's director of alternative and adult education, said the case could have been appealed to higher courts regardless of who won in the lower courts. He said the lack of any similar case made it an interesting case legally, but potentially costly.
"The district feels confident it would prevail, but in the interest of moving the district forward in a time of economic crisis, we've looked at the situation and said it was a gamble or chance we were not willing to pursue," Joynt said.
About five students were being represented for free by the nonprofit Lawyers for Civil Rights Committee of San Francisco. The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union also wrote a letter of support.
Seniors Pat Sullivan and Steven Cozza, the most prominent of the students battling the suspensions, said the school overreacted and erred by punishing students more severely than they typically would for skipping a class.
They said they wanted to make sure students in the future would not be afraid to speak up for a cause.
Cozza was in Italy competing in cycling races and couldn't be reached for comment Friday, but Sullivan said he is satisfied with the outcome.
"I'm happy, but disappointed the school used the budget crisis and still says it has the authority" to suspend the students, Sullivan said. "I think we've made our point and hopefully they won't do this again."
The school will remove the suspension paperwork from the files of the students.
However, a notation that students defied an order to remain in class -- with an explanation that it was to participate in a student-led walkout in opposition to a possible war against Iraq -- will stay in the students' records.
But the notation won't be reported to colleges asking for disciplinary information against a student, Joynt said.
The students' attorneys originally asked Petaluma High School Principal Michael Simpson to reverse his decision.
When he refused, they asked District Superintendent Greta Viguie. If she had declined, they would have gone to the school board to exhaust their administrative remedies before going to court.
No legal action was filed.
The complaint to Viguie brought the reversal following a Jan. 7 meeting between district representatives, the students and their attorney.
"We've got our message across," Sullivan said. "In the future we want people to be able to protest the war or be able to express themselves without undue punishment."
You can reach Staff Writer Tobias Young at 762-9498 or tyoung@pressdemocrat.com.