4 Leuzinger Students Get Suspended for Walkout

Four student protesters at Leuzinger High School were suspended Wednesday morning for their participation in the mass walkouts at the school earlier this week, and about a dozen others were ordered off campus by school officials for the rest of the day.

Students protesting alleged racism in the school district staged a brief sit-in on the Leuzinger campus Wednesday, but protesters said there was less participation than at two earlier protests this week because of threats of discipline by school officials. At Hawthorne High School, police said they referred eight students to the truancy office but described the situation as calm.

On Monday, hundreds of Leuzinger students marched to the Hawthorne High campus, where the number of demonstrators grew to about 2,000. There were reports that some demonstrators fought and vandalized property as they moved from Leuzinger to Hawthorne. Smaller protests were reported at both campuses Tuesday.

In response to the protests, the school board agreed Wednesday to meet with students at both campuses today.

A group of about 20 Leuzinger students, however, expressed skepticism Wednesday that the meetings would accomplish anything and said they were planning a boycott of classes today.

The protesters, who arranged a press conference at Ramona Park after school to announce their plans, said they will meet students as they arrive for school this morning and urge them to return home to support the protest of alleged racism in the Centinela Valley Union High School District.

Malcolm Ratliff, a senior who received a five-day suspension for “campus disruption,” accused Leuzinger officials of “hoping to calm the Indians by taking away all the chiefs.” He said removing a few protest leaders from the campus would not quell the protests.

Anthony Fortune, another student protester, said security guards tackled him to the ground as he ran away from them during Wednesday’s sit-in. His suspension form accused him of “willful defiance of authority.”