World Can’t Wait ⢠305 W Broadway #185, NY, NY 10013 ⢠866-973-4463 www.worldcantwait.org
November 4, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Connie Julian 917-449-9064
EMAIL: press@worldcantwait.org
Punishment Revoked for Los Angeles Ninth-Grader
Other High School Students Face Retribution for Supporting ‘The World Can’t Wait – Drive Out the Bush Regime’ Nov. 2 Walk-Outs
Sara Escudero, a 9 th grader at Reseda High School in Los
Angeles who was facing expulsion for organizing students to express
themselves on November 2 as part of World Can’t Wait Drive Out the Bush
Regime, was cleared on Friday morning. She will be allowed to return to
school without retribution. The decision by the school principal came
after hundreds of people from around the country called the principal
and the LA United School District in protest, and TV crews showed up at
Reseda High School Friday morning.
Meanwhile, reports continue to
come in from high schools all over LA County about moves taken by
school administrators to stop the November 2 walk-outs, including
disturbing reports of arrests and beatings of students by
administrators at some schools placed under lockdown. One student who
was pepper-sprayed by police for handing out leaflets at his high
school has been put under house arrest with an ankle bracelet.
Several
schools violated LA school district policy by locking students in
school on November 2, completely contradicting the policy stated in an
October 26 memo issued by Dan Isaacs, the Chief Operating Officer of
LAUSD, concerning the possibility of a school walkout on November 2.
The memo states as one of the steps that ‘should be followed if
students attempt to leave the campus’ the following: ‘Do not attempt to
prevent students from leaving the campus.’ (Memo is available upon
request.)
Thousands took part in demonstrations on November 2 in over 60
other cities, hundreds of high schools, and at least 40 college
campuses(with the explicit aim of ‘driving out the Bush regime.’
Prominent
intellectuals and others have endorsed the World Can’t Wait– Drive Out
the Bush Regime nationwide, including Gore Vidal, Jonathan Kozol, Nobel
Laureate Harold Pinter, Eve Ensler, Michael Eric Dyson, Studs Terkel,
Alice Walker, Jane Fonda, Cindy Sheehan, and others. Historian Howard
Zinn, who issued a national call for students to take part in the
campaign, is available for interviews.
For info of nationwide actions see www.worldcantwait.org