What is the student walkout for on 11/29 at Sherwood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the school sanctioning this?

Yes. I’m not Jewish, but I don’t think this is a good idea. Kids can organize a walk-out or a protest or whatever on their own time. MCPS should not be supporting walkouts on either side.

MCPS is not supporting walkouts on any side.

If I had to guess, MCPSs official policy would be that kids should be in school.

Barring that, where kids are deciding to plan walkouts for any reason, that they accommodate them to the extent necessary such that they don’t violate the Constitution, which means that they need to be neutral to purpose of the walkout to the extent that the speech doesn’t violate established policies.

Not sure why this should be hard for adults to understand.

[Anonymous]

The broader point is this. There are many political issues where a set of students have very strong opinions. These are issues that are complex, and in which there are reasonable people on both (or all) sides of the issue.

There have been walkouts and protests on many of them in recent years. I recall my older kid walking out in a gun control march (they deliberately went to school so they could walk out and then go to a rally on the mall).

There have been rallies/protests related to climate change, and I'm sure other issues.

This is the same thing. You can have an opinion that kids shouldn't be allowed to walk out (they should get detention or whatever as soon as they leave their classroom). But that's very different from supporting/denouncing a protest based on the specific political idea that is voiced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just received a letter from the school about the planned student walkout—which neglects to say what it is for. It’s related to Israel/Gaza, but it doesn’t say what the goal of the walkout is.

Peace?

Taking sides? If so, which side?

Anyone know?

I just got it and checked on Instagram. It’s put on by the Muslim student association. So yes, they are taking And it’s pro Palestine. Interesting that there is no walk out when all of the hostages were taken and hundreds of people slaughtered by Hamas.

That’s what I suspected.

As a parent of a Jewish student, this is disappointing.

FTR, I’m our home, our stance is this:

All terrorism is bad.

Hamas is a terror group that attacked innocent civilians.

Innocent Palestinians are now suffering thanks to Hamas—and historically have suffered since Israel and Palestinians can’t seem to get along (despite years of attempts to negotiate).

It’s all terrible. And there’s no end in sight.

I’d rather see civil discourse on peacemaking than what looks like a pointless juvenile stunt that inevitably will prompt something negative.

This is the direct result of progressives taking control of MCPS and bringing critical theory into the curriculum. Palestinians are seen as the oppressed and, therefore can do no wrong.

Can't really blame the kids. Since they've been in the school system, they've been told they need to stand up to injustice and engage in political action like protests, walk outs. In their eyes, they are fighting "white supremacist culture" and "colonizers." At their PD on 10/9, teachers were told they need to promote these type of student actions to change society. Don't blame the kids, blame MCPS central office for promoting, encouraging and allowing this to happen.

Agree.

Why would we 'blame' anyone for teaching kids to stand up for injustice?

Because that can easily be politicized. And if students have been brainwashed by far left politics as they have been here in MoCo, it leads to things like students protesting in favor of Hamas, a terrorist organization.

Protesting against Israeli policy (and more specifically, US support for Israeli policy) is a completely different thing from being in favor of Hamas. You know that. Don't rile things up by misrepresenting the position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just received a letter from the school about the planned student walkout—which neglects to say what it is for. It’s related to Israel/Gaza, but it doesn’t say what the goal of the walkout is.

Peace?

Taking sides? If so, which side?

Anyone know?

I just got it and checked on Instagram. It’s put on by the Muslim student association. So yes, they are taking And it’s pro Palestine. Interesting that there is no walk out when all of the hostages were taken and hundreds of people slaughtered by Hamas.

That’s what I suspected.

As a parent of a Jewish student, this is disappointing.

FTR, I’m our home, our stance is this:

All terrorism is bad.

Hamas is a terror group that attacked innocent civilians.

Innocent Palestinians are now suffering thanks to Hamas—and historically have suffered since Israel and Palestinians can’t seem to get along (despite years of attempts to negotiate).

It’s all terrible. And there’s no end in sight.

I’d rather see civil discourse on peacemaking than what looks like a pointless juvenile stunt that inevitably will prompt something negative.

This is the direct result of progressives taking control of MCPS and bringing critical theory into the curriculum. Palestinians are seen as the oppressed and, therefore can do no wrong.

Can't really blame the kids. Since they've been in the school system, they've been told they need to stand up to injustice and engage in political action like protests, walk outs. In their eyes, they are fighting "white supremacist culture" and "colonizers." At their PD on 10/9, teachers were told they need to promote these type of student actions to change society. Don't blame the kids, blame MCPS central office for promoting, encouraging and allowing this to happen.

Agree.

Why would we 'blame' anyone for teaching kids to stand up for injustice?

Because that can easily be politicized. And if students have been brainwashed by far left politics as they have been here in MoCo, it leads to things like students protesting in favor of Hamas, a terrorist organization.

Protesting against Israeli policy (and more specifically, US support for Israeli policy) is a completely different thing from being in favor of Hamas. You know that. Don't rile things up by misrepresenting the position.

Thank you for agreeing that "justice" is so easily politicized that teachers have to be really careful when teaching about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The broader point is this. There are many political issues where a set of students have very strong opinions. These are issues that are complex, and in which there are reasonable people on both (or all) sides of the issue.

There have been walkouts and protests on many of them in recent years. I recall my older kid walking out in a gun control march (they deliberately went to school so they could walk out and then go to a rally on the mall).

There have been rallies/protests related to climate change, and I'm sure other issues.

This is the same thing. You can have an opinion that kids shouldn't be allowed to walk out (they should get detention or whatever as soon as they leave their classroom). But that's very different from supporting/denouncing a protest based on the specific political idea that is voiced.

This. MCPS has now set an established practice for student political protest via walkout. They would be placing themselves in legal jeopardy if they treated these students differently just because they objected to the content of their speech.

However, on this specific issue the protesting students need to be careful because if they use slogans that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, they would violate MCPS policies and could be subject to disciplinary action that prior student walkouts were not subject to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just received a letter from the school about the planned student walkout—which neglects to say what it is for. It’s related to Israel/Gaza, but it doesn’t say what the goal of the walkout is.

Peace?

Taking sides? If so, which side?

Anyone know?

I just got it and checked on Instagram. It’s put on by the Muslim student association. So yes, they are taking And it’s pro Palestine. Interesting that there is no walk out when all of the hostages were taken and hundreds of people slaughtered by Hamas.

That’s what I suspected.

As a parent of a Jewish student, this is disappointing.

FTR, I’m our home, our stance is this:

All terrorism is bad.

Hamas is a terror group that attacked innocent civilians.

Innocent Palestinians are now suffering thanks to Hamas—and historically have suffered since Israel and Palestinians can’t seem to get along (despite years of attempts to negotiate).

It’s all terrible. And there’s no end in sight.

I’d rather see civil discourse on peacemaking than what looks like a pointless juvenile stunt that inevitably will prompt something negative.

This is the direct result of progressives taking control of MCPS and bringing critical theory into the curriculum. Palestinians are seen as the oppressed and, therefore can do no wrong.

Can't really blame the kids. Since they've been in the school system, they've been told they need to stand up to injustice and engage in political action like protests, walk outs. In their eyes, they are fighting "white supremacist culture" and "colonizers." At their PD on 10/9, teachers were told they need to promote these type of student actions to change society. Don't blame the kids, blame MCPS central office for promoting, encouraging and allowing this to happen.

Agree.

Why would we 'blame' anyone for teaching kids to stand up for injustice?

Because that can easily be politicized. And if students have been brainwashed by far left politics as they have been here in MoCo, it leads to things like students protesting in favor of Hamas, a terrorist organization.

No one here is protesting FOR Hamas. People on the internet are too stupid to distinguish between an entire ethnic group/nationality and a terrorist organization. A man in Vermont shot 3 Palestinian students.

[Anonymous]

My DD's school did the same. I am very proud of them for standing against genocide and ethnic cleansing. This generation is very different from mine. When we were growing up, we learned that Israel always existed (magically, I guess) and was being attacked for nothing.

This generation has a wealth of information at their fingertips and can get more nuanced views of the situation. I am glad to see the kids take the lead here.

I hope that they will see a free Palestine in their lifetimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
This. MCPS has now set an established practice for student political protest via walkout. They would be placing themselves in legal jeopardy if they treated these students differently just because they objected to the content of their speech.

However, on this specific issue the protesting students need to be careful because if they use slogans that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, they would violate MCPS policies and could be subject to disciplinary action that prior student walkouts were not subject to.

Any protest, about any topic, has the potential for someone to use a slogan that someone could interpret as hate speech.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The broader point is this. There are many political issues where a set of students have very strong opinions. These are issues that are complex, and in which there are reasonable people on both (or all) sides of the issue.

There have been walkouts and protests on many of them in recent years. I recall my older kid walking out in a gun control march (they deliberately went to school so they could walk out and then go to a rally on the mall).

There have been rallies/protests related to climate change, and I'm sure other issues.

This is the same thing. You can have an opinion that kids shouldn't be allowed to walk out (they should get detention or whatever as soon as they leave their classroom). But that's very different from supporting/denouncing a protest based on the specific political idea that is voiced.

This. MCPS has now set an established practice for student political protest via walkout. They would be placing themselves in legal jeopardy if they treated these students differently just because they objected to the content of their speech.

However, on this specific issue the protesting students need to be careful because if they use slogans that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic, they would violate MCPS policies and could be subject to disciplinary action that prior student walkouts were not subject to.

This is difficult because the pro-israel lobby has determined that any statements in favor of a Free Palestine are anti-semitic. If I state that Palestinians are people, too, that is anti-semitic. A poster with "no bombing of Gazan children" is anti-semitic. I mean, there is literally nothing that can be said other than "Israel has complete, unfettered right to kill all non-Jews in the region" that would be cleared by the Israel lobby.

So that's a hard ask.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the school sanctioning this?

Yes. I’m not Jewish, but I don’t think this is a good idea. Kids can organize a walk-out or a protest or whatever on their own time. MCPS should not be supporting walkouts on either side.

MCPS is not supporting walkouts on any side.

If I had to guess, MCPSs official policy would be that kids should be in school.

Barring that, where kids are deciding to plan walkouts for any reason, that they accommodate them to the extent necessary such that they don’t violate the Constitution, which means that they need to be neutral to purpose of the walkout to the extent that the speech doesn’t violate established policies.

Not sure why this should be hard for adults to understand.

MCPS does not need to tolerate the walkout though. They could give more discipline than just marking them absent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Any protest, about any topic, has the potential for someone to use a slogan that someone could interpret as hate speech.

Which is why "hate speech" is protected by the first amendment.

However, PP has a point that MCPS can implement their own viewpoint-neutral policies for students while on school grounds. If I was these students, I'd protest right after school, and across the street from school so it's not on school property.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the school sanctioning this?

Yes. I’m not Jewish, but I don’t think this is a good idea. Kids can organize a walk-out or a protest or whatever on their own time. MCPS should not be supporting walkouts on either side.

MCPS is not supporting walkouts on any side.

If I had to guess, MCPSs official policy would be that kids should be in school.

Barring that, where kids are deciding to plan walkouts for any reason, that they accommodate them to the extent necessary such that they don’t violate the Constitution, which means that they need to be neutral to purpose of the walkout to the extent that the speech doesn’t violate established policies.

Not sure why this should be hard for adults to understand.

MCPS does not need to tolerate the walkout though. They could give more discipline than just marking them absent.

did they discipline the kids who walked out for BLM? or other causes?

That is complete nonsense. You do not punish kids for peaceful protests because you disagree with their views.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just received a letter from the school about the planned student walkout—which neglects to say what it is for. It’s related to Israel/Gaza, but it doesn’t say what the goal of the walkout is.

Peace?

Taking sides? If so, which side?

Anyone know?

I just got it and checked on Instagram. It’s put on by the Muslim student association. So yes, they are taking And it’s pro Palestine. Interesting that there is no walk out when all of the hostages were taken and hundreds of people slaughtered by Hamas.

That’s what I suspected.

As a parent of a Jewish student, this is disappointing.

FTR, I’m our home, our stance is this:

All terrorism is bad.

Hamas is a terror group that attacked innocent civilians.

Innocent Palestinians are now suffering thanks to Hamas—and historically have suffered since Israel and Palestinians can’t seem to get along (despite years of attempts to negotiate).

It’s all terrible. And there’s no end in sight.

I’d rather see civil discourse on peacemaking than what looks like a pointless juvenile stunt that inevitably will prompt something negative.

This is the direct result of progressives taking control of MCPS and bringing critical theory into the curriculum. Palestinians are seen as the oppressed and, therefore can do no wrong.

Can't really blame the kids. Since they've been in the school system, they've been told they need to stand up to injustice and engage in political action like protests, walk outs. In their eyes, they are fighting "white supremacist culture" and "colonizers." At their PD on 10/9, teachers were told they need to promote these type of student actions to change society. Don't blame the kids, blame MCPS central office for promoting, encouraging and allowing this to happen.

Agree.

Why would we 'blame' anyone for teaching kids to stand up for injustice?

Because that can easily be politicized. And if students have been brainwashed by far left politics as they have been here in MoCo, it leads to things like students protesting in favor of Hamas, a terrorist organization.

No one here is protesting FOR Hamas. People on the internet are too stupid to distinguish between an entire ethnic group/nationality and a terrorist organization. A man in Vermont shot 3 Palestinian students.

You think the kids walking out aren’t being manipulated? They totally are. You have no idea of who is actually organizing the walkout (and that goes for any pro-Israel walkout too). This is how naive kids end up chanting Hamas slogans or even waving a Hamas flag, or holding up an extremely offensive poster (star of david going into the trash). Because they are being manipulated and don’t actually understand what they are doing and saying. I wouldn’t bar my child from walking out, but I would urge them to be very careful about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the school sanctioning this?

Yes. I’m not Jewish, but I don’t think this is a good idea. Kids can organize a walk-out or a protest or whatever on their own time. MCPS should not be supporting walkouts on either side.

MCPS is not supporting walkouts on any side.

If I had to guess, MCPSs official policy would be that kids should be in school.

Barring that, where kids are deciding to plan walkouts for any reason, that they accommodate them to the extent necessary such that they don’t violate the Constitution, which means that they need to be neutral to purpose of the walkout to the extent that the speech doesn’t violate established policies.

Not sure why this should be hard for adults to understand.

MCPS does not need to tolerate the walkout though. They could give more discipline than just marking them absent.

did they discipline the kids who walked out for BLM? or other causes?

That is complete nonsense. You do not punish kids for peaceful protests because you disagree with their views.

To be clear I think all walkouts should be equally disciplined, yea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Any protest, about any topic, has the potential for someone to use a slogan that someone could interpret as hate speech.

Which is why "hate speech" is protected by the first amendment.

However, PP has a point that MCPS can implement their own viewpoint-neutral policies for students while on school grounds. If I was these students, I'd protest right after school, and across the street from school so it's not on school property.

Not only can MCPS implement their own viewpoint-neutral policies for students while on school grounds, they actually have done so.

Also, where exactly do you think the Sherwood students should protest?