Finals to keep many Bay Area students in class on Inauguration Day
A controversial Berkeley teacher is calling on all Bay Areas schools to shut down Friday and allow students to take to the streets in defiance of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Yvette Felarca — who was placed on forced leave last year after a YouTube video surfaced showing her attacking neo-Nazi protestors at the state Capitol building in Sacramento, an incident that resulted in seven stabbings — is attempting to galvanize students and teachers to rise up against Trump by walking out of class “when they can.”
[...] the Berkeley Unified School District said in a statement that various “grade-level appropriate activities” have been organized for students to participate in school including, discussions surrounding the inauguration and students’ roles as citizens.
“We believe that students should be engaged in school-produced educational activities during instructional hours, especially on this Friday, which at Berkeley High will include important review and instruction for finals next week,” the statement read.
Felarca, who sustained a head injury and gained notoriety in June 2016 when she and other activists attacked neo-Nazi protestors at the state Capitol building, was placed on paid leave for six weeks when the principal of her school received a “vulgar and poorly written” email threat by what Felarca called “Trump supporters and fascists.”
“We are not going to have business as usual until Donald Trump is defeated,” said Felarca, who’s been involved with civil rights groups By Any Means Necessary and Black Lives Matter.
Trish Gorham, president of Oakland Education Association, a union representing teachers, said the union has been working with the school district in case any teachers or school employees decide to join the demonstrations.
“Students who have unexcused absences face standard consequences, including ineligibility to play sports that day or the next and the inability to take make-up tests,” Myong Leigh, interim superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School District, said in a statement to sent to staff and families.