Civil Disobedience Shuts Down School Board Meeting

By Ann K. Williams
Staff Writer

May 19 -- Fire marshals shut down Thursday night's School Board meeting after student protesters refused to leave the City Council Chambers. The meeting was cut short before public comments, so there was no chance for the students to explain why they were there.

After the aborted meeting, school officials said they’ll try again in a larger hall.

“I think it’s great the kids were here,” Interim Superintendent Michael Matthews said. “We didn’t know so many would show up... We’ll reschedule the meeting as soon as possible in a larger venue.”

It was obvious from the start this wasn’t going to be an ordinary school board meeting. Generally, an audience of a dozen people scattered among empty seats is a good crowd.

Thursday night, all the seats were taken in the council chambers, and students lined the walls two deep. Some even sat on the carpet in front of the dais, filling out worksheets their teachers had given them. The teenagers were getting extra credit to attend the meeting in support of some grievance that never became entirely clear.

“A cynical manipulation” one parent said.

But Chelsea Rinnig, a junior in Michael Felix’s Advanced Placement U.S. history class, didn't agree.

“This is what you have to do to get your voice heard,” Rinnig said. “We’ve been studying how to make a difference,” she said, adding that Felix, who gave students extra credit for attending the meeting, has been teaching his students about the East Los Angeles walkouts in the late 60s.

Little did anyone guess that Felix and the kids were about to act out their lesson in real life.

At least 60 students filled the chambers, some in seats, some sitting by the walls, some standing two deep.

Gamely, the board started the meeting. Everyone said the pledge of allegiance, and Interim Superintendent Matthews called the science bowl team up to receive the board’s accolades. He told them how pleased he was that they got to be honored by such a large crowd and called the team that placed third in the nation “a symbol of what we all aspire to be.

Matthews and Board Vice-President Kathy Wisnicki made a point of explaining to the young people how the meeting was structured and the rules for public speaking, but no one mentioned that the crowd was a fire and safety hazard until Fire Captain L. McNett worked his way through the crowd and butted in.

He stood before the dais and announced that everyone who didn’t have a seat would have to leave. No one responded.

McNett asked again, but the noise in the crowd had grown and no one understood, so, still, nothing happened.

Then he raised his voice and again told the people blocking the aisles to leave. At this point, the board members started talking among themselves, and a lot of people left the room.

Board President Julia Brownley told the crowd that the meeting was “not going to start until we have television monitors (turned on downstairs) and everyone can participate in this meeting.”

The kids were talking by now, and they weren’t the only ones. A lot of the adults who’d come -- teachers, staff, parents, consultants -- were talking on their cell phones. Other adults sat still, silent, frowning.

The board members had gotten out of their seats and were having side conversations; some left the room. Word was, Brownley, perhaps Matthews as well, was talking to Mayor Bob Holbrook downstairs, trying to figure out what to do.

Meantime, CityTV wasn’t getting anywhere fixing the downstairs set, which seemed to be broken.

After a few minutes, it became obvious there was a corps of kids in the back corner that wasn’t going to leave. Felix sat in a chair in the corner among them, saying not a word, looking for all the world like a young Cesar Chavez. He seemed relaxed, but immovable.

By this time, Brownley was talking to McNett and a couple of police officers in front of the dais.

One of the officers went to the back of the room and ordered the kids to leave.

“I don’t want to say I’m the big bad cop but do what I say and move downstairs,” the officer’s voice carried through the crowded chambers.

Felix remained immobile and expressionless. One of the kids, a tall, Latino young man wearing a chain and a white T-shirt yelled, “Unite”

A kid in the audience repeatedly yelled, “Do what you want!”

Another yelled, “Why don’t they call the fire department when our classes are crowded and we’re sitting on the heaters?”

An Asian kid with blunt cut hair high-fived a smiling white girl in front of Felix.

The police officer’s face clenched. “Let’s go!” he shouted.

The kids, about five of them, made a human wall around Felix, who still hadn’t said a thing or changed his expression. It seemed their action was spontaneous -- it didn’t look like he’d said anything to them.

Meanwhile, board Vice-President Wisnicki was trying to maintain some semblance of control.

Two students in the front who had seats, stood up. One of them, a white girl with designer sunglasses resting atop her head, loudly announced in a valley girl accent, “I think they’ve heard our voice.”

She railed that “they called the fire department on us,” but wanted the kids in the back to leave, so she could have a chance to speak before the board.

The girl’s friend, Taylor Brinkerhoff, another white student with a stylish shag cut that hung into his eyes, said, “You’re not impressing anyone this way,” and said the protesting students looked like “some stupid teenagers standing in back of the room.

“This civil disobedience isn’t working,” Brinkerhoff said.

“It’s easy for them to say it because they have a seat,” said Nivia Alvarado, a Latina student who supported the kids in the back of the room. She said the students who refused to leave were just trying to support the teachers.

“Some of them are getting fired,” said Alvarado, who was holding a flyer that said, “Straus is not my value,” a reference to SAMOHI Principal Dr. Ilene Straus.

“Some of the new teachers are afraid to come here, they’re afraid of being fired,” Alvarado added.

But the teachers seated around Alvarado seemed to be having a good time.

“The last time I saw a crowd of students like this was the condom issue,” said Randy Dennis, a SAMOHI History and English teacher, referring to a meeting when the board voted to let the school nurse pass out condoms to the students.

“The nature of democracy is near chaos,” opined Rob Thais, newly appointed Chair of SAMOHI’s English Department. “It’s supposed to be raucous. It’s better than enforced silence.”

By this time, more kids had returned to the room to mill around with their friends. The crowd around Felix was growing, much to the officer’s consternation.

Meanwhile, the girl with the sunglasses was trying to negotiate with Wisnicki to get the maximum speaking time. “I want three minutes for every speaker” she said.

Wisnicki explained in a calm, tight voice that the rule is if there are more than six speakers, they only get two minutes each.

At this point, McNett had had enough. He marched to the front of the room.

“There is no meeting tonight. I’m making that decision now. Goodbye. There’s not going to be a meeting tonight,” McNett proclaimed.

“How convenient for her,” Alvarado said, meaning Straus.

Straus and her team had come to present a report on the restructuring of SAMOHI into six houses. So had the superintendent’s search consultant and facilities master plan consultants.

They will have to wait until the next meeting on June 1, which the district promises will be held in “a venue that can accommodate a larger audience.”