Schools Won’t Punish Protesters : Sanctions: Antelope Valley high school officials said few of the students who boycotted classes over an anti-gang dress code will be suspended.

Antelope Valley Union High School District students who spoke out against a new anti-gang dress code at a school board meeting Wednesday night will not be punished for their remarks, as some students had feared, school officials said Thursday.

After students failed to mount a major protest at the meeting, some claimed that the turnout was poor because school officials had threatened to discipline any students who spoke out. School officials said no such threats were made.

Officials said most of the nearly 400 students who participated in class boycotts last Thursday and Friday to protest the new dress code will not face suspension or expulsion, although some will face lesser sanctions for missing classes.

Yvonne Healey, principal at Antelope Valley High School, said she plans no action against most of the about 175 students involved in the protests at her campus. However, if a parent of a student who missed class requests disciplinary action, a child could be ordered to attend four hours of school on Saturdays or perform cleanup assignments, Healey said.

She said three students drew three-day suspensions for disrupting classes during protests at the high school. Another student was suspended for five days for throwing rocks Thursday at a sheriff’s patrol car, she said.

At Palmdale High School, Principal Linda Janzen said she planned to suspend none of the more than 200 students who staged a three-hour class boycott last Thursday. She said some students might face lesser sanctions for missing classes.