UNITED YOUTH Flashmob Student WALKOUT Invades City Councill, School Board, And Teacher Protest

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• published: 27 Sep 2015
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Students pack ASD board meeting in protest ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The action during Thursday night's Allentown School District's board of directors meeting happened on Penn Street. That's not news. What is news is that the action literally took place on Penn Street. Roughly 100 students and teachers decided to express their anger at the state of the school district in a loud and dissident tone outside the administration's headquarters after being denied entry into the building to attend the meeting. Superintendent C. Russell Mayo was the target of their displeasure. "He Must Go," the group shouted in a cadence that resembled a Friday night pep rally before Saturday's big game. The student group also showed up at a city council committee meeting earlier in the night to voice concerns. Mike Frassetto with the group United Youth, who is also a teacher at Medical Academy Charter School, said, "We have a complete disconnect in our city between the systems of the city and the people of the city. All we want is for the people of the city to be heard." He added, "We've been asking for change for the last three to five years and it's not happening." Meantime, teachers have been working since August 31 without a pact and are not very happy about it. "We knew the district would find a way to freeze our salaries," Debra Tretter, president of the Allentown Education Association, told directors during a public comment session. She portrayed the teachers as victims at the hands of an administration who articulate words of praise for them in public, but harbor hearts of contempt in private. Tretter deduced that ASD's latest offer was not only unacceptable, but something else. "It was a slap in the face," she said. As Tretter paused in her dressing down of the administration the angry chants of students and teachers could be heard in the background even inside the board room. The union president then offered the administration advice about event planning, suggesting the district should consider holding their meetings in "a larger venue" instead of limiting members of the public from attending what is, after all, a public meeting. "We would never stop freedom of speech," said board President Robert Smith. He added the had a track record to prove it. Smith mentioned that sometimes he had actually allowed too much democracy to be shown, recalling the time one protestor attempted to exercise his First Amendment rights by exercising a tawdry striptease routine. The limit on seating, Smith explained, was not the board or administration's idea, but rather the suggestion of the city's fire and police chiefs. A total of 83 people were allowed into the actual board room, while about 25 to 30 were allocated in a large foyer area outside the room which contained a television broadcasting the evening's meeting. The foyer contained a wall of glass facing Penn Street. As the evening progressed, protestors began loudly pounding their fists against it, which warranted an intervention from the Allentown Police Department. The meeting featured several security officers and police officers to maintain order as chaos constantly beckoned. By the end of the meeting, the majority of protestors had dispersed and the street was mostly quiet. "We have the opportunity to hit reset," was how one Allentown resident and former director, Holly Edinger, termed it. "We have a hundred kids who came out on a Thursday night," she told directors. And perhaps administrators should get a good look at the students, since it may be their last chance after Monday, which is the day some of them plan a "walk out" from the district in protest. "We're going to have about 100 adults outside of each school, we're going march down all the way to the Martin Luther King statue where we're going to have education outside," said Frassetto. The students are demanding that Mayo resigns, that a student representative with voting power is added to the school board, and they're calling for a student summer employment program. "It's an incentive for kids to stay in school, get good grades and behave," said Frassetto. Allen High School student Yamilet Paulino said, "I want more programs, I want our teachers back, I want less study halls." Another Allen student, Faith Febres, said, "Obviously the Allentown School District don't care. If they did care they would be giving us new text books from this year not from 2007 or 2006." Earlier this week, the district released a statement in response to the call for a walkout. "While the Allentown School District supports freedom of expression, it is disconcerting that an organization would encourage minors to leave school in violation of the law." Read more from WFMZ.com at: http://www.wfmz.com/news/news-regional-lehighvalley/students-pack-asd-board-meeting-in-protest/35475186 Connect with us... Facebook/69WFMZ or @69News