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Parents Upset Over Expulsions For Student Protest

25 Berwyn Students Disciplined For Participating In Anti-War Protest

BERWYN, Ill. (AP) ? Twenty-five students who staged an anti-war protest at Morton West High School in Berwyn last week have been punished, including 10-day suspensions and possible expulsions.

Parents of some suspended students are outraged, saying school officials went too far. They plan to meet at the high school today and demand the students be returned to class.

"This is about freedom of speech," said Adam Szwarek, father of a sophomore who was suspended after the sit-in last Thursday. Szwarek says his son now faces an expulsion hearing. "There has to be consequences, but 10-day [suspensions]?"

Szwarek and other parents insisted the protest against the Iraq war was peaceful. The kids say the sit-in was meant as an alternative to regular school visits by military recruiters.

The parents also said their children complied with a request by school administrators to move their protest from the cafeteria to another room after being assured they wouldn't be disciplined.

But Ben Nowakowski, superintendent of Morton School District 201, says the protest was not peaceful and it disrupted the school day. He confirmed the district was "going through the suspension and expulsion process for 25 students."

During the protest, he invited students to move outside, telling them they wouldn't be disciplined if they left, Nowakowski said. Some students returned to class, but others locked arms and refused to move, he said. "They were quite boisterous and wouldn't listen to police and the administration," Nowakowski said.

All classes were locked down "while the situation was handled by administration and Berwyn police," he said. Ultimately, the protesters moved to an alternative area, and students were released from their classrooms.

The 25 students who didn't disperse "will be brought up for appropriate disciplinary proceedings," Nowakowski said. No police charges were filed.

"I want to stress that this action has only to do with the students' disruption of the educational process," he said. "Not only do students have a right to express themselves on matters of conscience but we encourage them to do so."

Nowakowski said 35 students protested but parents pegged it at 200 throughout the day.