Help the teachers of Tukwila

[annm4peace]

Just received this from a community organizer in the
area.

ALERT: Tukwila Teachers Being Fired For Student
Counter-recruitment Walkout

On Friday, November 16th, more than a 1,000 students
in Washington State walked out of school to protest
predatory military recruiters. Since the beginning of
the Iraq War, the Pentagon has been assigning ever
greater numbers of recruiters to dupe young people
into signing up for this bloody, costly and illegal
quagmire. In Olympia , 300-400 students walked out in
protest, as did 700 young people in Seattle . In the
marginalized, bedroom community of Tukwila, 200
students walked out of one high school to protest the
recruiters that daily stalk their lunchrooms. Student
made signs, marched to an I-5 overpass, and
subsequently to the Tukwila City Hall for a civic and
peaceful assembly. Now the principal and school
district superintendent have begun a witch-hunt, not
against studentsŠyet, but against at least six of
their teachers. These teachers have stood up for their
students, some of the most disenfranchised in the
state, both inside and outside the classroom. Who will
standup for these six Tukwila teachers?

One teacher was put on administrative leave on Monday,
November 19th. At least five more were delivered
"memos" notifying them that the Tukwila school
district was "investigating reports of possible
misconduct relating to you in connection with the
student walk-out." These teachers were further
notified that they were not to discuss "this matter
with any District students or staff" or they could be
fired. Several of these teachers were completely
unconnected with the walkout, but having been
previously been marked out as individuals that speak
their minds, are being lumped into the teacher hunt.

There is only way to deal with a political witch-hunt,
and that is for people to take it and break it
head-on.

With a "No Child Left Behind" of 2001 provision
forcing principals to give up the private contact
information of young people to military recruiters,
students and teachers have the natural right to
protest.

With a bloody and illegal war, where the soldiers that
die and are maimed are disproportionately minorities
and victims of the "poverty draft," students and
teachers of Tukwila have the natural right to protest.

With more than a trillion dollars and the lives of
more than a million Iraqis having been utterly wasted
on a failed war, with schools in marginalized areas
falling apart, we should all be protesting with the
slogan: "Money for Schools-Not For War!"

With 70% of the American people polling against the
war, and a Democratic Congress still making excuses
why it can't cut off funding to bring the troops home,
we must support the young people who speak out against
their future being bombed away.

And we MUST support their teachers whose only
misconduct was making their lesson plans truly
relevant to the lives of their students.

[eridani]

1. Contact information--

BRIEF BACKGROUND:

On November 16th, over 1,000 students in Washington State walked out to protest the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters in public schools. Students at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington organized and 150 walked out, saying “Money for Schools, Not War.”

Foster students rallied at the school flagpole, marched down to the I-5 overpass, and then marched to the Tukwila City Hall. The march and rally were student generated and entirely peaceful.

In reaction the Tukwila School District has done the following:

· Suspended one Social Studies teacher, Brett Rogers, who supported his students in a student generated democratic movement
· Threatened administrative action against five other teachers
· Threatened to discipline students for exercising their First Amendment Right to free speech

When Brett Rogers was asked if he had a personal stake in the war, he said: “It’s an illegal war and my cousin is deploying December 4th, and I’m not happy about it.”

Please call and email the Principal and Superintendent now!

Tell them they need to:

--Reinstate the teacher Brett Rogers who has been put on administrative leave.

--Drop the disciplinary hearings against all six teachers who face
investigations.

S--upport the initiative and moral fortitude of students who took a stand against the effects caused by this war to their communities.

--Take no disciplinary action against students who participated in the walkout.

We request that you flood the school administration with phone calls and emails. Tell them to halt all disciplinary action against students and the Tukwila Six!

CONTACT:
Foster HS Principal George Ilgenfritz: [phone]
ilgenfritzg {at} tukwila.wednet.edu

And Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: [phone], [phone], burkee {at} tukwila.wednet.edu

Please send a copy of protest emails to us at

tukwila.teachers.solidarity {at} hotmail.com so we can count how many protest emails have been sent in.

If they refuse to answer your call, call Foster HS Assistant Principal Daryl Wright [phone] and Foster HS Office Manager Darlene Aguiluz [phone].
--------------------------------------------------------------------




The husband of one of the teachers who received the threatening letters is an Iraq veteran. He went to Foster High School on November 16th and spoke to the students from first-hand experience about the truth of the Iraq War that the government and corporate media are actively hiding from the American people, and he walked out with the students.

As the Iraq veteran left the building, he was confronted by a security guard who identified himself as a police officer/veteran/federal marshall who said: “Don't even start with me, I'm a veteran.”

The school administration is disciplining a teacher whose husband is a veteran whose life was put at serious risk in Iraq and who has now turned against the war. This is very disrespectful to the veteran, his family, and the working-class students who are being forced to shoulder the burdens of this war. The school administrators are more concerned with trying to having power over teachers and students than letting the communities who have been hit the hardest by the war speak out against the war and the predatory military recruiters in their schools. This—after the American people voted the Democrats into Congress to end the war, but the Democrats are still making excuses about why they cannot cut off funds for the war and direct those funds toward education and other desperately needed social services.

When the leaders of our country will not end this unjust war, then it becomes up to ordinary workers, parents, students, and soldiers to end the war.

The attendance secretary at the school also refused to excuse the absences of students who had permission slips signed by their parents to miss school, which is a flagrant violation of parent and student rights.

Principal George Ilgenfritz also told one student that she didn’t know anything about war. (Ironically, the student is from an immigrant Somali family who still has family in the war-torn country of Somalia.)


On the Tukwila School District’s website, the following message has been posted by Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: “We believe in the historic mission of public education within our democracy… Our schools are expectedto encourage and prepare students to be productive citizens. We believe the challenge is to transform every child – to give every student a chance to become an autonomous, thinking person and a self-governing citizen. We are all here to work together to provide the best education for the most prized commodity of our fine city – the students of the Tukwila School District.”

Yet when the students participate in an act of peaceful civil disobedience in the best traditions of Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement who challenged unjust segregation laws, now the Superintendent is hypocritically trying to discourage students from being “self-governing citizens” and standing up for what is right.

We need to match the determination of these courageous teachers, students and the Iraq veteran with all the support we can! Please take a few minutes now to call and email the Principal and Superintendent at the numbers and emails at the top of this email!

YouTube video of Foster High School student rally for peace:


www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOuLz3kKExI
Report on Washington State Nov. 16th student walkouts against the war: http://yawr.org/nov16/seattle.html
Articles on Youth Against War and Racism student victories against military recruiters in schools:
http://yawr.org/victory/victory.htm#tacoma
http://yawr.org/victory/victory.htm#kennedy

Please forward this email widely to supportive organizations and individuals who might be able to help!

For more info, contact the Tukwila Teachers and Students Solidarity Committee: foster_nfo {at} hotmail.com [phone]

Please leave a brief message and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

[eridani]

2. Tukwila progressive group meeting 11/28

Chuck is in Democracy for Washington and the 11th LD Democrats--


I am hosting a small get together tomorrow night of a Tukwila yahoo group called Progressives for Tukwila. We will be discussing this matter. Either I or Jeff Lopez-Stuit with touch base with Noemie about anything of interest that comes out of the discussion.

Chuck Parrish
Tukwila, Wa
206-244-8427
chuckparrish2002 {at} yahoo.com

[uppityperson]

3. KING5 has an article on it too

http://www.king5.com/topstories/stories/NW_112807WAB_tukwila_teachers_war_protest_LJ.491e9a88.html

UKWILA, Wash. - Students in Tukwila are rallying around a group of teachers in trouble with the school district for taking part in an anti-war protest. That war protest turned into a full-fledged controversy at Foster High School in Tukwila. Should teachers have encouraged students to walk out of class to protest the war in Iraq? The civics lesson is now under the microscope.

The Tukwila School Board is sorting out whether anyone should be punished over the issue. A Foster High School social studies teacher remains on paid administrative leave after the district says he participated with students in a walkout and protest of the war.

(clip)

Roughly 125 Foster High students walked out of class earlier this month to protest the war, part of a state-wide effort. But the Tukwila School District is investigating six teachers who may have encouraged the students, including the one who marched out with the kids. "Even though he is a teacher, he has a right too," said another student.

The district says teachers were warned not to participate, but says this is not about politics but rather student safety. ...(more)

[eridani]

4. Email from a local Dem party member--

This message will be posted in several places so please forgive the absence of a personal salutation. What I am about to share is my opinion based on my participation in a small discussion which included one school board member. The student protest and teacher issue at Foster High School has been exaggerated far beyond the reality of the situation. It is informative to see how these things happen and how easily people arrive at conclusions with minimal information.

A student protest was organized as part of a larger statewide event. It related, as I understand it, to the war and to the presence of military recruiters in the high school. The reason for the protest does not really matter here. Having a good, fair process is what matters.

To participate in the off campus protest, the students were required to get permission slips from their parents. Those who did not get the permission slips were issued tardy slips as they would be in any other situation.

The question of teacher participation is still being investigated. The school district engaged an independent outside entity to investigate the situation. This seems wise and reflects a "cool head". The one teacher who was put on administrative leave is already back to work. It is a personnel matter and the school district is not releasing information on it. They are simply going thru a process which seems totally appropriate to me.

There was a general consensus (in our little 8 person discussion) that whatever the results of the investigation, we want the school board (all dedicated volunteers) to exercise flexibility and not be a "hard line enforcer" of rules. If a teacher made an error in judgment and recognizes it as such, just deal with it on that level. Who doesn't make mistakes? If a modest administrative "slap on the hand" in needed, so be it. Our expectation of the school district is to focus on keeping good teachers to serve our students.

It is my understanding that the next board board meeting will devote a significant portion of the agenda to this event.

Hope this helps.

Chuck Parrish
Tukwila resident