Steve Betando, MHUSD Superintendent

Morgan Hill Unified School District’s superintendent sent out a March 7 letter to all “employees, parents, guardians and students” regarding the district’s strategy to allow for student participation in planned school walkouts and protests.
“Many of our students, and several parents and community members are supporting two planned or staged demonstrations at our schools,” wrote MHUSD Supt. Steve Betando, listing the March 14 and April 20 dates for the staged demonstrations.
“The purpose behind these demonstrations is two-fold,” he continued in his message. “One goal is to honor the lives of the students lost in the Parkland (Fla.) shooting, and the other objective is for students to use their voices to enact change in government policies surrounding gun legislation.”
District officials have instructed school principals and staff to plan “for potential or spontaneous peaceful demonstrations,” according to Betando.
For the March 14 walkout—planned for a 17-minute span between 10am to 10:20am to honor each life lost in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School—the district is allowing high school and middle school students “to exit their classrooms and congregate in a designated area on campus in order to give them the opportunity to express their feelings about the victims of the school shooting in Parkland, Florida in a supportive and caring environment.”
For the April 20 demonstration, scheduled for 10am—the 19th anniversary of the Columbine (Colo.) High School mass shooting—MHUSD high school sites “will rearrange their bell schedule for the day so that a voluntary period of civic activity can take place.” Students are not required to attend the forum, and alternate classroom assignments will be given to those students who choose not to participate. At each middle school, “principals are arranging individual activities for their schools. Each site will be communicating those activities to their students and parents,” according to the letter.
In both instances for elementary school students, the district believes “participation in such events may increase the sense of fear and anxiety and would create additional safety concerns in ensuring sufficient supervision.” The letter continues, “If parents would like to remove their child(ren) from class for the designated 17 minutes (March 14), they may contact the school office to make arrangements in advance to do so.”
As for April 20, parents of elementary school students can make arrangements to take their children but “students kept home from school or taken out of school early without a reason permitted under Education Code 48205 will be considered unexcused.”
In conclusion, Betando states: “Our students have a powerful voice that can effect change, and it is our duty as educators to support our students through difficult events. This is an opportunity for us to provide guidance on how students can be civically engaged and politically aware through an educational lens.”

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