COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: Counter-Recruitment: General
Parent conferences scheduled after 'die-in'
Sarah Breitenbach and David Simon, Frederick News-Post
April 27th, 2006
FREDERICK,
Md. — Five students at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School were
suspended Wednesday pending parent conferences after a protest during a
career fair, according to one of the students.
Junior Bob Hayes said he and four other students staged a "die-in" in
front of a U.S. Marine Corps recruiting booth at the school about 10:30
a.m. The students pretended to die by falling down in front of the
booth and then passed out leaflets protesting the war in Iraq and the
presence of military recruiters on school grounds.
"We're angry ... the school shouldn't be occupied like Iraq is," Mr. Hayes said.
The five students will be allowed to return to school after their
parents meet with school officials Friday, according to Mr. Hayes.
Hank Bohlander, Frederick County Public Schools secondary associate
superintendent, confirmed disciplinary action was taken against five
students for disrupting an educational event, but he did not name the
students or discuss the nature of the discipline.
"We do not suspend kids for protesting if they do it in the right way," he said.
The students distributed leaflets that had not been approved by Gov.
Thomas Johnson's administration, Mr. Bohlander said, a requirement at
FCPS schools. Also, during their protest, the students were spilling
into space for another business, so anyone interested in that business
had difficulty approaching. Mr. Bohlander would not say what business
it was.
Mr. Hayes said the protest, which included more than five students,
took place only in front of the Marine Corps booth. Leaflets were
handed out to individuals, not posted on walls, so he did not believe
approval was necessary.
"I plan to appeal the decision," he said. "I don't think what we're doing is wrong. I think what we're doing is good."
TJ assistant principal Andrew Kibler approached the five students as
they were lying on the ground and asked them to move, according to Mr.
Hayes. They refused and were then approached by principal Marlene Tarr.
"She told me 'This is not your style, Bob, you should get up,'" Mr. Hayes said.
When the students again refused, a Frederick County Sheriff's Office
deputy dragged two of them away from the career fair, Mr. Hayes said.
The other three went willingly. The five students were held in the
principal's office for about three hours, and a student who had taken
pictures of the scene had the camera confiscated and the film
destroyed, he said.
The conflict between Mr. Hayes and school officials over military
recruiters first went before the Frederick County Board of Education in
January. The board declined to change military recruiters' access to
schools. Recruiters from each branch of the military are allowed to
visit each Frederick County public high school once per marking period,
a total of four times per year.t.
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