New Jersey Students Punished For Hoodie Protest

(from myfoxphilly.com, 3/27/12)

"DEPTFORD, N.J. - Dozens of New Jersey teens say they were punished for showing support for Trayvon Martin at their high school.

It's a story Fox 29 first tweeted out on Tuesday morning.
One student sent out a picture of other students in detention wearing hooded sweatshirts, with signs that say, "I Am Trayvon."

The hoodie has become a symbol of Trayvon Martin's death after he was killed a month ago in Sanford, Fla.

The symbolic reference to the hoodie struck home at Deptford High School in Deptford, N.J., where the students say they were punished for violating the school's dress code.

The students started the day on Tuesday in a unified protest that led to a partial lockdown at the school.

At least one student was arrested after the incident and many of the students involved in the protest left school at the end of the day with suspensions in hand.

The students told Fox 29 they organized the protest Monday night and about 30 kids took part.

They wore hoods and carried signs protesting the Trayvon Martin shooting.

School policy is clear: Wearing the hood up during the day is against the rules. At first, the principal and the administration called the students down to the office.

The principal ordered them to take the hoods down. Some complied, others didn’t.

Extra Deptford police, some with dogs, were called to the scene.

All of the students were put in the detention room, and were threatened with suspensions or worse of they didn’t comply with removing their hoods.

One student told us she was told by school officials she couldn’t walk for graduation or go to the prom unless she took her hood down.

She said the group took their hoods down when they were told they couldn’t walk at graduation."

I don't often agree with Admin on very many things, but as a teacher who recognizes the need for safety first at a high school (as should parents as well), I have to agree with the school for demanding the students remove their hoods. Sorry, find another way to protest. It's too easy to hide your identity wearing a hood, and that can lead to all kinds of chaos. Sorry, find another way to protest. Parents, stop enabling these kids, making them think that they have rights that they just don't have, either in school or out of school. Again, find another way to protest, that doesn't violate anyone else's potential safety.