Students Protest in Walkout at Fremont High

Thousands of students walked off the Fremont High School campus in South Los Angeles on Friday morning to call attention to the number of substitute teachers, searches by school police and other complaints.

School officials estimated that about 90% of the 3,000 students on campus joined the demonstration, which began about 9 a.m. and ended peacefully about two hours later.

The protesters shouted and waved placards in front of the school. More than 500 marched down San Pedro Street away from the campus. Most returned to their third-period classes after school officials identified several student leaders and persuaded them to make an appeal over the public address system for an end to the demonstration.

The same leaders linked arms to halt about 100 students who appeared prepared to march by the campus again, after walking more than a mile through the community.

School and city police adopted a hands-off approach to the crowd, and no arrests were made.

Several students, who said they were members of Students Organized for a Better Fremont, handed out a list of four demands. They want full-time teachers for every class, a new librarian, fewer searches, and lockers for all students.

“Almost every student at Fremont has at least two substitutes as their regular classroom teachers,” the flier said. “Every student deserves six classroom teachers.”

The flier also said that school police routinely search all students who are tardy and seize items such as school supplies and highlighters.

A school district official said the students have some valid complaints and that the district will open a dialogue with them.

“I think they felt there was not a door open to them to address their concerns,” said Willie F. Crittendon, operations administrator for the Fremont cluster.

However, he said he could not promise that the demands would be met, especially considering the shortage of credentialed teachers.

Fremont’s ratio of substitute teachers is comparable to other inner-city high schools, he said.

As a result of the demonstration, the United Teachers-Los Angeles sent a letter Friday to Supt. Ruben Zacarias demanding that he replace Fremont Principal Guadalupe Simpson by Tuesday, or the union would recommend that its members report to district headquarters instead of the school.

“We do not feel that students and staff are safe there,” said Bev Cook, vice president of the teachers union.

Simpson had been targeted by the teachers union even before her transfer to Fremont last year. A truce ended last spring when a teacher received a death threat and, the union alleges, Simpson and her staff mishandled it.

Teachers complain that Simpson is autocratic and has failed to fill key positions such as counselors, resulting in hundreds of students having no classes when the summer track began in July.

Some said they support Simpson and blamed dissident faculty members for helping incite the students.

Crittendon said he thought rules were broken and there should be consequences.

Simpson said she does not intend to pursue an investigation.