Will Schools Protect our Children during protests? An Open Letter to School Board and Superintendent!! Report, Open Letter and question by Robert A. Williams

Cleveland County Schools are being watched closely across the state because of their flagrant violation of their own rules regarding student disobedience protests, i.e., walking out of class last week for the political objective of promoting gun control. CCS aided and abetted this civil disobedience protest by not punishing the protesting students as their School Board Policy 4220 requires.

For your Convenience the applicable part of Policy 4220 is as follows:

“B” Level Offenses
Expectation 15 – Boycott/Protest
Cleveland County Schools believes that all students should participate in the educational environment and activities set forth by the Board of Education and each individual school. Students should embrace the opportunities for enrichment, experiences, and knowledge. Students will not be permitted to boycott or walk out of any lawful school function in which attendance is required. Furthermore, students shall not engage in any protest, march, picket, or sit-in designed to disrupt the school environment or cause a disruption of any school activity whether on or off any school campus.

1st offense – Up to ten days out of school suspension.
2nd offense – Ten days out of school suspension and possible recommendation for long term suspension.

This Board Policy is totally clear in what it says and it is totally clear that the CCS Board, CCS Administration and CCS Staff totally ignored their own rules, and actually encouraged students to violate those rules to suit a democrat partisan political purpose. In fact No student was disciplined as required by the policy.

Now, the question arises, will the CCS Board, Administration and Staff be as willing to ignore their rules for any students that participate in the protest scheduled for Wednesday at 10 AM regarding the inequality of facilities for the girls softball team at Shelby High School as well as the inequality of facilities between Shelby High School and every other school in Cleveland County. Auditoriums and swimming pools included. in the list of unequal facilities.

The answer to that question is the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution requires that if the student walkout last week was not punished, then any student walkout for any reason or purpose cannot be punished. Not only in Cleveland County Schools but every school system in the United States where the US Constitution applies. And that is all of them. In a flash of stupidity the CCS School Board, Administration and Staff have set Constitutional Precedent for every school in the country. Schools already in trouble for high costs and low performance. And now this kind of political stupidity over a losing proposition-gun control.

So, this is a question for the CCS School Board, Administration and Staff.

What are you going to do with the students who violated the noted School Board Policy 4220 last Wednesday? And, What are you going to do with any other students who violates Board Policy Wednesday or at any other time for any other reason? All of America is wanting to know.

For proof of that, a letter to the Pender County School District asking this very same question, but with different wording, from the Pender County NAACP has already set this inquiry in motion. Look what CCS stupidity has caused state and nation wide Cleveland County Schools

[gview file=”http://citizensforgoodgovernment.org/online/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/3-23-18-Equal-Protection-for-Students.pdf”]