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A Day of Action at Cleveland High School: LAPD in LAUSD Schools PDF Print E-mail
Written by Diana Martinez, SFV Sun
Friday, 29 January 2010

Cleveland HSStudents from Cleveland High School in Reseda participated in a "Day of Action" rally Tuesday in conjunction with the release of the report, "Police in LAUSD Schools: The Need for Accountability and Alternatives" (Read the Report). Similar rallies were held on other LAUSD campuses including Manuel Arts and Westchester High Schools.

The report published by the Strategy Center's Community Rights Campaign attributes the increasing presence of police in and around LAUSD school campuses as contributing to student's dropping out and being "pushed out" of school.

Wearing tee shirts that read Hey LAUSD, I'm Pre-Med, Pre-Job NOT Pre-Prison, Cleveland High Students at the Day of Action rally said they agree with the report's findings. "We have to take a stand, we can't sit back and watch bad things happen to our peers," said Carla Duarte, a junior at Cleveland, "We have to make people aware and let them know that these things are happening."

They said they believe that school police currently assigned to their school, practice racial profiling and discourage students from coming to school by regularly issuing truancy tickets to students who may be only a few minutes late trying to get to class.

"The tickets cost $250, so if a student is running late, they'll stay home rather than face getting a ticket [that they can't afford to pay]," said Eric Fuentes Casas, a senior. "They even handcuff students when they are writing the truancy tickets which makes students nervous and scared about coming to school."

It must be working. Maybe the parents will get the message. It's school. Get your lazy A$$ there or find a job.

Here's the Strategy center's web site.
http://www.thestrategycenter.org/projec ... s-campaign

The "Pre-med guy seems a little old to be in HS but this is .....LA.