• Font Size    

Slideshows

Celebrities With Swine Flu
E-mail

Close Window E-mail This Page

Parents: Valedictorian Punished For Layoff Protest

Required fields are marked with an asterisk(*)

The information you provide will be used only to send the requested e-mail and will not be used to send any other e-mail communications. Read more in our Privacy Policy

Send E-mail

   Print     Share +   
Jun 24, 2009 10:42 pm US/Pacific

Parents: Valedictorian Punished For Layoff Protest

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― A group of parents says a Los Angeles charter school won't allow its class valedictorian to deliver a graduation speech because she participated in a sit-in to protest teacher layoffs.

Johnathan Williams, the founder of The Accelerated School in South Los Angeles, said Wednesday he cannot discuss the parents' allegations because of the school's privacy policy.

Marivia Torres, one of the parents, says senior Aurora Ponce is unfairly being barred from speaking at the Saturday graduation.

Torres says the student has been sufficiently punished for protesting the layoffs of 2,100 Los Angeles teachers. She says Ponce received a two-day suspension, had to perform community service and had a summer job with the school's Jaime Escalante Tutoring Program rescinded.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

You need the latest Flash player to view video content.
Click here to download.

Click here to bypass this detection if you already have the latest Flash Player.

School News

Top News Stories

© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.