Climate Strike: SPS Says No Excused Absences if Students Walk Out
Today on KUOW's The Record, Superintendent Juneau was asked about SPS students who might want to join the Friday walkout for climate change. She was totally supportive of young activists and noted many in Seattle Schools.
But then she mentioned the law and teaching and learning and science classes and well, it's a no to being excused to go to the rally.
The only way a student can go with an excused absence is if a parent/guardian comes and takes the student. No note will do.
I put this up on Twitter and many people were not happy with her stance.
Gov. Inslee's statement reads as follows:
Via NBC News:
NYC schools to let 1.1 million students cut class for climate strike.
"We applaud our students when they raise their voices in a safe and respectful manner on issues that matter to them," the city's Department of Education said in a statement.
But then she mentioned the law and teaching and learning and science classes and well, it's a no to being excused to go to the rally.
The only way a student can go with an excused absence is if a parent/guardian comes and takes the student. No note will do.
I put this up on Twitter and many people were not happy with her stance.
Do it anyway.
Yeah, I’ll go get the kid.
Not with Amplify they won’t.
Wow! Well, the only time I got in trouble in school was when I staged a walk-out against the war in Iraq. I got quoted in the local paper and got called into the principal’s office on Monday AM. Got detention and when I got home, my hippie uncle gave me a hi 5! So Hi 5 students!
I note that Governor Inslee is all in as are NYC schools.Oh hi@SeaPubSchools, did you see@GovInslee’s release? He seems pretty enthusiastic about kids participating.
Gov. Inslee's statement reads as follows:
"I encourage educators to embrace Friday's Global Climate Strike as part of a strong civic education for young people. The youth of today will inherit the planet of tomorrow. The cataclysmic impact of climate change will impact them more than any generation before them.The Governor will be in Spokane on Friday to join local youth lead as they lead the Spokane Climate Strike.
"If I had the authority to excuse students from school to participate in this Global Climate Strike, I would grant it. But I don't. However, I support their engagement and activism on this crucial issue. Their future is the one truly at stake. Moments like this in our environmental history will define us and will reverberate for generations. I commend the youth in our state and across the county standing up for their future."
Via NBC News:
NYC schools to let 1.1 million students cut class for climate strike.
"We applaud our students when they raise their voices in a safe and respectful manner on issues that matter to them," the city's Department of Education said in a statement.
Comments
Reader
Madison Parent
Is it civil disobedience if it's encouraged by the civil powers that be?
SP
Do it anyway. Your disobedience is your platform. One “unexcused absence” is a pretty pathetic punishment anyway. On balance, it’s nothing compared to the fate of the world.
Do It
Theo Moriarty
https://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=28A.225.010
Save Us
Part of what makes a protest work is the willingness of those protesting to accept the punishment for their actions. If they are only willing to “protest” if it is free, than what’s the point? Courage of your convictions?
Isn't part of SPS's strategic plan to help students graduate "prepared for community"?
I hope most teachers are more accommodating than Juneau, and will allow students to make up anything important that may have been covered that day. I suspect that many will work around it, and that students who do show up will find themselves doing a lot of busy work instead.
Wayste O'Tyme
"We have received questions about the parade on Wednesday, which starts at 11 a.m. Seattle Public Schools will not close or dismiss school early because of the parade. Parents who wish to take their students out of school can, but per state regulation, it will be treated as an unexcused absence. While we support the team, academics must come first and it’s important not to lose a day in the classroom."
https://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2014/02/03/seattle-schools-hates-joy-and-happiness-refuses-to-close-for-super-bowl-parade
As others have mentioned, its not really a "walkout" or a "strike" if it's excused. If students don't have the conviction of conscience to accept an unexcused absence, they really aren't committed to the cause and shouldn't participate. For all our sakes, I hope they do have skin in the game and that they are going to bring the change us previous generations failed to.
QADad
Do members of the School Board have opinions?
Carol, I only heard President Harris - at a candidate forum - say that the Board and administration were "wrestling" with the issue. The final word is the Superintendent's.
smiling
Only inSeattle
--Fight4Rights
BooHa
Holding the line might not be a bad decision.
I agree that kids should be fought that it will often cost them to fight for something in which they believe, but I also believe that in cases where it does not NEED to cost them, they should be taught to fight to exercise their rights. There will be plenty of people trying to take their rights away in one form or another, and they need to know how to push back--especially when the law is on their side. Helping them understand their right to protest is more important than making sure they feel the pain of so doing.
HF
Teach your children to stand-up and have courage for their convictions.
Fighting your current school administration to be granted your rightful "excused" absence in order to go stand up for your convictions arguably requires more courage than trying to explain away an unexcused absence anyway. It's more personal, and has more potential to be uncomfortable.
HF
SOM
SOM, you made me laugh. "This activism needs to stop." Tell that to the Rainier Beach kids who advocated and agitated for the City to pay for Orca cards. And it worked.
The Climate Strike is about the need for our national government to pull its collective head out of the sand and take a stand on climate change—basically the exact opposite of what is currently happening with most environmental regulations being rolled back, etc. 45's recent move to disallow California to set its own auto emission standards is just one more example of his administrations disregard for climate science and the need to curtail the use of fossil fuels.
If I still had a child in SPS, we'd be drafting up a letter to their school so they could attend the rally on Friday—unexcused absence or not.
We do "fake fire alarms" all the time. They are called "fire drills". As long as the principal let the FD know it was a drill, not a problem from a safety perspective.
asdf
So which is it, kids who will do anything to get out of class, and don't really care about the issue, or activism?
It sounds like your real complaint is activism. Hmm, I wonder why?
Activists change public opinion and awareness, which are engines of change.
Act on, kids.
asdf
On the other hand my daughter is mentoring 20 high school students this year, up from about 11 last year, re: environmental activism.
Last year they drove over 250 miles to meet with legislators to voice their concerns, and this yr they’ve already had a sit down with their state senator, ( who came to them)
Real world experiences beat dry textbooks anyday.
Study hard, think outside the box, save the planet.
Posters, feet and shrill shouting isn’t working.
Crossing our fingers and hoping for more palatable and less painful solutions to this mess probably won't get us far. Or at least not far in the right direction, that is.
Maybe pushing for greater acceptance and adoption of currently proposed solutions is exactly the right approach, at least for now. It's not like people can't also be trying to identify and develop improved solutions at the same time.
Uh-oh Zone