New York City Department of Education Chancellor David Banks opposed a citywide pro-Palestinian student walkout scheduled for Friday, discouraging students from participating.
According to a press announcement about the demonstration, “thousands” of high school students were scheduled to skip class on Friday and congregate outside the Education Department offices to call for safeguards for educators and students involved in pro-Palestine marches.
Six organizations, including Teacher’s Unite and NYC Educators for Palestine, even provided a toolkit encouraging students to recognize their rights and to “ask for leniency” if their schools forbid them from leaving the premises without authorization.
“I’m a big believer in student voice and kids standing up for the things that they believe in and want addressed,” Banks told reporters during a briefing on Thursday at the Lower Manhattan headquarters of the department. “I don’t think you need to have continued walkouts to do that. And I think to some degree, the students have missed their mark when you do that, if it just becomes a regular thing, and now kids are just walking out of school, just to walk out of school.”
DOE officials stated that they would be closely monitoring the walkouts, even though they did not specifically state what consequences pupils who leave school during the day to protest Israel would face.
“Certainly, wherever we find that we have any of our staff who are promoting that, that is entirely against our policies. And where we find that after we investigate, we will take appropriate action,” Banks added.
Employees are not typically allowed to take part in walkouts, protests, or demonstrations during regular business hours, according to the Chancellor’s policies, which set forth guidelines for all New York City Public schools. Pro-Palestine groups have also urged teachers to support walkouts by extending the deadline for important papers or exams, or by “making the lessons flexible to accommodate students who walkout.”
