By Sarah Breitenbach and David Simon
Frederick News-Post
April 27, 2006
FREDERICK — 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.
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