Legal Alert - National Lawyers Guild Sets Up Student Walkout Hotline - 415-285-1011

Bay Area Legal Groups: Respect Students' Rights During Walkouts

National Lawyers Guild Sets Up Student Hotline -- 415-285-1011

SAN FRANCISCO - The National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area
Chapter, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, La Raza Centro
Legal, and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay
Area are calling on educators, school administrators and law enforcement to
respect the rights of students in the event of school walkouts for immigrant rights on Monday, May 1st.

The immigrant's rights marches that have swept the nation have included a
number of walkouts by youth and students in California. In some cases there
have been reports of educators and law enforcement "locking-in" students at
the schools and threatening them with severe penalties if they leave
class to attend marches.

The organizations seek to inform the public, school administrators,
parents, students, and teachers of the following:

* Leaving school to attend a political rally or march cannot result in
harsherpenalties than other kinds of unexcused absences.

* The California Education Code makes it clear that suspensions and
expulsionsare not appropriate ways to discipline students for unexcused
absences ortruancy.

* Schools should not lock doors or block fire exits to prevent students from
leavingschool. Such measures undermine staff and student safety and
are only allowed when necessary to prevent serious risks to student safety.

Students are encouraged to contact the NLG hotline if their rights have
been violated at 415-285-1011.

Resources in English and Spanish for students, parents, and educators
can be found at schoolwalkouts.info <http://schoolwalkouts.info> and aclunc.org
<http://aclunc.org> .

Educators are encouraged to use the week of May 1st as an opportunity to
discuss the pending immigration legislation with their students.

For more information contact: Carlos Villarreal of the National Lawyers
Guild at 415-377-6961

Stella Richardson, ACLU-NC 415-621-2493

Anamaria Loya of La Raza Centro Legal at 415-699-3429

Nicholas Espiritu of the Lawyer Committee for Civil Rights at
415-543-9444

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