Parents of students
who participated in the walk-out at both Chesterton High School and
Chesterton Middle School on March 14 received notice late Friday afternoon
that their children--who were marked truant at 10 a.m. on the day of the
walk-out--have been assigned an “alternative discipline.”
The notice of
alternative discipline:
“Dear
Parent/Guardian:
“Your student was
marked truant on March 14, 2018, for a period of time during class. The
consequence for this behavior is one of the two options:
“* Complete one
half-hour of community service to be signed off on by an adult supervisor.
Please complete the information and obtain an adult supervisor’s signature
if you choose this option at the bottom of the page. Return this letter to
the Assistant Principal’s Office.
“* Complete a
one-half page written reflection commenting on your rationale for leaving
class. Please return this completed essay with your clearly printed name to
the Assistant Principal’s Office.
“Your completion of
one of the above tasks is due by the end of school on Wednesday, April 4,
2018. If one of these options is not completed, further disciplinary action
will occur.”
Duneland Schools
Administration added, in the notice of alternative discipline, that a
“personalized letter will be issued to your student” sometime this week.
The two options for
alternative discipline are, in fact, those which Duneland Schools Supervisor
Ginger Bolinger cited as possible sanctions when she spoke to the
Chesterton Tribune prior to the walk-out, earlier on the morning of
March 14.
A couple of hundred
students at CHS participated in the walk-out, in memory of the 17 who were
massacred on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland,
Fla. Approximately 130 students participated in a walk-out, also at 10 a.m.
March 14, at CMS.