Morningside Students Take Objections to School Board : Inglewood: Students said walkouts were necessary to force action by district officials. The protesters’ demands focus on cleanliness, safety and the competence of substitute teachers.

Students returned to classes at Morningside High School in Inglewood Wednesday after two days of protests, but two dozen student protesters confronted the school board at a meeting Wednesday night, pressing their bid for improvements at the school.

As supporters loudly applauded, student protesters repeated their demands that district officials clean up the campus, ensure their safety from outsiders and provide qualified substitute teachers and adequate school supplies. They said the student walkouts held Tuesday and last Friday had been necessary to force district officials into action.

“I want answers,” said Omar Khan, “I’m here to ask you, ‘Are you on your job?’ ” The board heard speakers on the Morningside subject for nearly two hours but took no action.

Earlier in the day, Supt. George McKenna issued a statement saying the district will move swiftly to clean up bathrooms, provide additional textbooks, monitor substitute teachers and respond to other student concerns.

McKenna’s statement, read to students over a public address system by Principal Art Murray, said four bathrooms that had been closed for repairs and security reasons would be reopened by next Tuesday. He also said sinks will be cleaned, and soap, toilet seat covers and sanitary napkin dispensers will be added.

In response to complaints that there are not enough textbooks to go around, McKenna said the school administration will review the school’s textbook needs and report to him. In the meantime, he said any new textbooks that have been delivered to the school will be issued to students by the end of the week.

Substitute teachers, another source of complaints, will be monitored to ensure that they are teaching, the statement said. Some classes were canceled last semester because substitute teachers were not available, and the statement said the district has hired additional substitutes to cover teacher absences.

Students have contended that many of their substitutes act as baby-sitters and do not even attempt to teach. One student said in an interview that a physical education teacher with no foreign language training had taught her Spanish class.

Campus safety has been one of the primary concerns of the students. They say that gang members who have been expelled from school frequently return to the campus and harass students.

McKenna said four parents will be hired to monitor the campus. Five security guards and one campus police officer already are assigned to Morningside.

McKenna also said an estimate will be prepared in the next two weeks of the cost to install additional lights outside the school. He said an exterminator has already been hired to control the “severe and longstanding problem of gopher infestation” in the school’s football field.

In an interview Wednesday morning, Murray said he had decided not to fight a decision made by the school board in a closed session last week to transfer him out of the school. Murray, who took over as Morningside principal in September, has until Friday to request a hearing to protest the transfer. An appeal of the board’s action could delay his transfer for months.

Although pledging not to interfere with the transfer, Murray criticized district officials for holding him responsible for longstanding problems at the high school. He called the school a “snake pit” and said fighting the transfer would add more conflict to an already contentious environment.