Coalition for Peace Action (New Jersey): Students Protest Detention Over Their Iraq War Walkout
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 31, 2008
9:29 AM
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CONTACT: Coalition for Peace Action (New Jersey)
Aislinn Bauer, 609-651-3689
Arantzazu Galdos, 551-655-1831
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250 Princeton HS Students Protest Detention Over Their Iraq War Walkout
Student Protest at Princeton School Board Today!
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PRINCETON, NJ - March 31 - Between 200 and 250 Princeton High School students plan a teach-in and march to Monday’s Princeton School Board meeting in protest of their two-day detention imposed by Principal Gary Snyder. The detention was ordered following the students’ March 19th walkout marking the fifth anniversary of the US occupation in Iraq. The students held a one-hour rally and speak-out, missing two periods of class. Students plan to attend the local school board meeting that begins at 4pm to participate in the public comment period.
“This detention is unfair, because we were taking a chance to voice our opinions and educate ourselves, which we are not given the opportunity to adequately do so in school,” said Aislinn Bauer, a Princeton High School sophomore and one of the organizers of the walkout. “We’re turning this punishment into something productive.”
“What I do not understand is how we were able to miss three periods to see Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience perform and throw Mardi Gras beads at us, which had little to no educational value,” said Russell Cavallaro, another Princeton High School sophomore. “This walkout actually had educational value. Students were educated on the causes of the war, why it should never have happened, and had a chance to offer their respects to the fallen soldiers.”
The students object to the administrations’ punishing students for expressing their belief that the occupation of Iraq is wrong and not being responsive to the students by educating them in issues they are concerned about.
WHAT: Student protest of administration-imposed two-day detention following anti-war walkout
WHO: 250 Princeton High School students
WHERE: Princeton Board of Education Valley Road Administration Building, 25 Valley Road
WHEN: 4pm, Monday, March 31st
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