On the eve of planned protests in Decatur over the expulsion of six high school students, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Chicago) on Saturday urged Democratic leaders to voice their support for the expelled teens.
“I’m somewhat astounded that we have the Republican leadership taking a position and the Democratic leadership is silent,” Rush said during the weekly meeting of the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition in Chicago.
Noting Gov. George Ryan’s intervention in the dispute, Rush said, “I’m calling on Democratic officials to stand up and be heard.”
Operation PUSH founder and President Rev. Jesse Jackson, who was not at Saturday’s meeting, has been leading a movement to get the students reinstated. He is scheduled to lead a demonstration Sunday afternoon through the streets of Decatur.
The students, who attended the PUSH meeting Saturday but did not speak, were expelled after a brawl in the stands at a football game at Eisenhower High School in September. A seventh student, who also was facing expulsion, left the district to avoid being kicked out.
All of the students are African-Americans. After Jackson began protests over the disciplinary action, calling it unduly harsh and unfair, Decatur authorities filed criminal charges against the youths.
PUSH officials on Saturday urged residents to attend Sunday’s rally.
“We have no other choice than to escalate our presence in Decatur,” Rev. James T. Meeks told about 300 people at the South Side headquarters of Rainbow/PUSH. “We’re not going away until these young people are back in school.”
The controversy has divided Decatur residents and drawn nationwide attention to “zero-tolerance” policies against school violence.
Ryan and state schools Supt. Glenn “Max” McGee went to Decatur last week to try to broker a compromise between Jackson and school officials.
The school board agreed to reduce the students’ expulsion to one year from two years and to let them attend alternative schools during their expulsions.
But the board rejected Jackson’s demand that the students be permitted to return to school in January, provided they perform well at the alternative school.
At protests and news conferences last week in Decatur, Jackson chastised the school board for taking such a harsh stance in response to a weaponless fight with no injuries, and for releasing confidential attendance and academic standing information about the students.
Rush said he would seek congressional hearings on the legality of zero-tolerance policies and would seek an opinion from U.S. Atty. Gen. Janet Reno.
Decatur Schools Supt. Kenneth Arndt reiterated Saturday that the school’s zero-tolerance policy is merely a resolution–a statement of support for a non-violent school atmosphere–adopted in August.
“There is no policy,” Arndt said.
Arndt declined to discuss Jackson’s specific demands and said his school board and administrators were receiving “unbelievable support” for their discipline decision.
“Right now, I just want to support our teachers come Monday so they can do the job they were hired to do,” Arndt said.
Decatur’s three high schools were closed for two days last week due to rumors of white-supremacist violence planned against Jackson, Arndt said.
Decatur Mayor Terry Howley on Saturday night denied a local newspaper report that he had spoken to a member of the Ku Klux Klan, saying that it was only a rumor that white supremacists would confront Jackson’s rally on Sunday.
“We don’t know who’s going to be here until tomorrow comes,” Howley said.
