AZ: TUSD Changes Stance On May 1st Demonstration
TUSD Changes Stance On May 1st Demonstration
April 25, 2007 07:33 PM CDT
By Som Lisaius, KOLD News 13
Immigrant rights groups want local students to join them in a second year of May Day marches. But their call for a May 1st school boycott also renews the debate about where student activism stops and truancy begins.
April 10 2006: 20 thousand people take to the streets of Tucson showing massive support for immigration reform. From a participation standpoint, the demonstration is viewed as a major success--so much, in fact, a second rally is held on May 1st. The May Day call to action brings hundreds more to Tucson's Armory Park. For activists, once again, the show of support is promising. That's why those same activists are at it again.
"We're here knowing full well we will not have 20 thousand people the way they were last year," says Isabel Garcia, long-time civil rights activist and member of the May 1st Coalition. "Even if we're five people or five thousand people there has to be a voice of principled dissent."
That's why the May 1st Coalition is calling for a boycott of all economic activity May 1st, meaning no buying, no selling, no work and no school. Thousands of last year's demonstrators were students. In fact, of Tucson Unified School District's 60,000 students, 36 thousand students missed school that day with excused absences. This year, TUSD has changed its take on the rally: all absences will be unexcused unless the district is notified by parents.
"Our expectations are that our students and our staff are in school on Tuesday May 1st. TUSD Superintendent Roger Pfeuffer still encourages students to take part in the immigration debate, but he wants them to do so at school. Last year, a number of students experienced dehydration and heat exhaustion until TUSD buses picked them up from the event.
This year, there'll be no buses. And if students do participate, Pfeuffer says, they'll do so at their own risk. "That's the message to parents, we are not providing transportation, we are not providing security."
Last year, many of the students who participated came to school that day, then took off for the demonstration. This year, if students do decide to take part the superintendent asks them not to come to school that day at all. Either way, the demonstration will take place starting around 9 am Tuesday, May 1st.
http://www.kold.com/global/story.asp?s=6427590
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