CALIFORNIA, March 12—Today 60 students and their teachers walked out of their classes, assembled and marched to the main office with signs and chants. The students and teachers defied racist, and sexist administration stooges sent to stop them. The student marchers were refusing to take their state ELPAC tests on filthy and possibly Covid-19 contaminated computers that are shared daily with hundreds of students and go uncleaned for months.
The horrid conditions in the building and the administration’s disregard for the safety of the students point out once again that capitalism can never serve the needs of the working class. We need leaders and an education that serve the interests of our class. That will only come through the fight for workers power and communist revolution.
Filthy conditions put students and workers at risk
After marching in front of the office, carrying signs in English and Spanish that said, “clean or close the school”, “Do we matter?” a student said, “We should go in and demand answers!” Most of the crowd then filled the tiny front entryway (a student commented that it was cleaner than the rest of the school) and demanded answers to their questions about the filthy, neglected and virtual death trap the district stooges have been running despite the international coronavirus pandemic.
The school has been neglected by the district and left in deplorable conditions for at least the last 40 years since it became the most diverse and low-income school in the area. Students, spoke in Spanish and English, “Why are you keeping us in school without cleaning the classrooms, desks, computers and without reliable open and clean restrooms (any number are locked on a given day), soap and paper towels? When will you close school? Don’t you understand the impact of this deadly pandemic?”
The administration, in demeaning and patronizing tones had no information, then denigrated the students by saying that they had little to worry about and to just use hand sanitizer. Apparently, the school and district leadership despite weeks of international news, had absolutely no plan, well not for us anyway, to be healthy or successful.
They repeatedly said our district had no cases of Covid-19, seemingly unaware that a majority of Bay Area families commute all around for work. The students shot back that the school didn’t have soap or sanitizer. One of the administrators then told them, “If you’re so worried, your parents can keep you home.” Most of the students live with parents or other family or friends who work and can’t easily keep them home. The administration, mostly to clear the office so they could enjoy their oasis, said they would answer all the questions in a special meeting in the library after lunch. No one else was invited and no announcement was made.
Students and staff unite and fight back
The meeting was a classic attempt to contain the students’ and staffs’ rage. Two Black Administrators spoke, one, a surly teacher/athletic director (a close friend of the racist principal), made a 20 minute speech dismissing protests and blaming outside agitators then claimed saving JROTC for our campus was awesome. The other Black administrator, the so-called equity ambassador, droned on about how the military was a great option for low income students of color.
The Administrator charged with facilitating the meeting shut down the teachers who spoke up several times but allowed the other administrators to speak freely. Despite the ruse of the meeting, the fed-up students spoke openly about the closed filthy restrooms, rats (some teachers have taken to using their own traps) and roaches and lack of activities on campus. When one student pointed out several shelves being empty in the library, a supportive teacher spoke up about slave owners banning reading.
After the meeting, students knew that their families and fellow students would need to keep speaking up, acting up and fight back against the racist, sexist administrators who run the schools and push working class students into low wage jobs or the military.
The teachers who supported these students were already in the administration’s sights for speaking up about the treacherous conditions. They immediately joined this spontaneous upspring while others who were asked were hesitant. What greater work than to free ourselves of the daily abusive, mind numbing, soul crushing, life-threatening conditions of schools under capitalism. Until the working-class takes over society to serve the international working class, schools will remain concentration camps serving the ruling class. The racist principal and his district serving minions will one day have to explain their terrible role in keeping our community devastated. Until then, these petty tools of the bosses will keep teaching the lesson that our high school is a testing/training and experimenting prison for the racist, sexist ruling class.
Students, staff, alumni and community will continue to meet, talk and brainstorm plans and actions to fightback against school misleaders who have helped create the most disgusting conditions we’ve seen in years.