The Park Slope Brooklyn Public School Rally that occured yesterday, April 12

I am writing you in response to the televised (which occured yesterday on channel 2, 9 and 11) accounts of the walk-out of Students at the Secondary School for Law, Research and Journalism, yesterday, April 12, 2006. As a staff member in this school I am proud of our Students for speaking up and organizing themselves in order to challenge the very system they are apart of. The over 200 Students involved in this walk-out stood for very real causes that I feel were not adequately understood by news crew that covered this story yesterday.

The Students of the Secondary School of Law, Research and Journalism walked-out in order to speak out against what they feel is a great disadvantage to their education. The Students, many of whom I spoke with after the so called “Riots” took place, were seeking recognition for the daily hardships they face every day in order to attend school. Each morning Students of these schools are required to walk through several security guards and medal detectors, which delay their entrance to school by up to 45minutes. The Students have reported to me that they feel like they are being treated as criminals. If students refuse to comply with the security’s checks they are not admitted into school. In addition to this delay a new enforced rule is also requiring Students to wait on an additional line with their cell phones in order to have them individually placed in a plastic sealed bag and confiscated. This additional “security measure” caused many Students on the morning of April 12, 2006 to arrive to class over 1 hour late.

Although it is my belief that the walk-out that occurred yesterday was viewed as a destructive plea for students to be allowed to use their cell phones during school, I would like to argue that this walk-out was for a great deal more. Many Students of Secondary School of Law, Research and Journalism have family and work responsibilities that require them to communicate with others in order to afford the opportunity to attend school. I believe that the vast majority of Students who walked out were not in favor of disruptive cell phone use but rather they were speaking up for the rights that many students in more affluent areas receive without question.

The majority of Students that attend Secondary School of Law, Research and Journalism are from low income, minority families. For many of the Students if they graduate High School they will be the first in their family to receive such a diploma. Instead of these Students being praised for their drive to receive an education despite their hardships they are, in many cases, being penalized for being part of a certain group in society.

I do not write this in order to say that all of the administration does not care about the Students they serve. Rather I write this to congratulate the teachers and administration of Secondary School of Law, Research and Journalism for teaching their Students the importance of Education and the powers that knowing Law, Research and Journalism brings.

I think it was wrong for the students to get arresteddd.

i think this whole thing is nuts!!!!!!!!

I know I am kinda late on the subject, but I feel this needs to be said. Being an 8th grader in the secondary school for law, I know that before the entire situation where the enforcment for no cell phones in school because so serious, the school was total chaos in the morning with scanning and wand searches, but to add a 45-75 minute wait outside to it is ridiculous. Though this may also get most of us angry, thats not what started the fire of the walk out. The principal would come into our classroom from time to time telling us we would get arrested if we walked out, acting as if there isn't a huge bill of student rights on the wall in the board of education office at 130 livingston st. which I know by heart, no to mention a human beings civil rights. They had no right to arrest us because it's a form of protest in which is protected by the decleration of independence. This may conflict with the "laws" of the Board Of Education and the rules of "cutting school", but thats not our problem.

The principal needs to serious, we go to a school with a LAW ELECTIVE as it's I guess you could say MAJOR. If we have rights, why not use them? Why teach us about them and how important it is to take advantage of them because of how hard our country has worked for our right, but than tell us we will be arrested if we use them.

There so much more to this situation than not having cell phones, or waiting outside for an hour. It's the frustration of not being taken seriously and dealing with hypocrits.
Sorry but its a school full with students that have a pure new yorkers attitude, and it being runned by a group of people who are always beating around the damn bush.