Aragon demonstrates unity and inclusiveness through walk-in

By Zack Cherkas and Ashley Tsang

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About 50 Aragon faculty and students gathered on the corner of Woodland Drive and Alameda de las Pulgas before school on Thursday, Jan. 19 to show their support of public education and undocumented students, just a day before President Donald Trump was inaugurated. After demonstrating with posters for about half an hour, the group participated in a ‘walk-in’ to school at 7:50 a.m.

Throughout the election and presidential transition process, new policies and discussions regarding public education and immigrant status have been raised that could affect Aragon’s community. Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is an active advocate for the privatization of public schools, and hopes to increase competition between schools through the establishment of vouchers and charter schools — a goal unpopular throughout the majority of the participants of the walk-in.

Career Technical Education department chair Susan Hontalas says, “85 percent of the country’s students go to public schools… For a private system, it’d be a private entity running the public schools and we’re not for that and that’s what DeVos wants.”

Additionally, Aragon’s faculty and students made a point to demonstrate the equality and inclusiveness that they hope to maintain at the school due to the Trump administration’s stated desire to deport all undocumented immigrants. Demonstrators are seeking to welcome all students to a safe place at the school, as well as advocating that all have the right to a free education, regardless of their immigration status, ethnic background, social or economic status.

“When you have a president that has come into office that has threatened immigrants with deportation and threatened and insulted … myriad groups of people, it is important that they know they are safe at school,” says Special Education History teacher Michael Gibbons.

Spanish teacher Jaime Prado, having taught many students who are undocumented throughout his 15 years of teaching, adds, “I have a special dedication to [undocumented students] and their parents. I’ve worked in schools that are … predominantly Latino — like 99 percent — and you have families … even the students or their parents that are also undocumented and they, like my own parents at one point, also deserve the access to an education.”

“And on another level, undocumented or not, having an educated populace is essential to democracy because you need the people to vote to make informed decisions,” Prado continues. “And if they don’t have access to public education, they don’t know what is possible for them within the system, then you can’t really have a true democracy.”

Although many groups have been protesting President Trump and his policies, Aragon Psychology teacher Carlo Corti, who is the bargaining chair for the SMUHSD Teachers Association, explains the non-political goal of Aragon’s demonstration: “We thought that for our district… we just wanted to show that as teachers, we are welcoming of every student on our campus and we’ll take care of them,” says Corti. “This is an attempt to not be political, but rather to just show support for students and to show support for public education as a whole, but not to be anti-Trump or a Democrats versus Republicans thing.”

While many supported the messages that the walk-in was trying to convey, some Aragon students didn’t see the purpose of the walk-in.

“I think it’s pointless, but everyone has a right to protest,” explains senior Ben Sasounian. “[Aragon] should be a safe space, people should not be bullied here. However, silencing them from other opinions is not very effective. Unfortunately, if you’re an illegal [immigrant], you shouldn’t be here. It’s against the law to be here.”

Through public demonstration, Aragon’s participants hope that they will spread awareness to others. Math teacher Adam Jacobs says, “We’re the adults on campus and we have a lot of influence that way, so it’s important for us to be good role models, to make sure that our message gets across, that we’re very supportive of all students in this community. Because we have that effect… we want to put our best ideas forward.”

Some teachers spent a lunch period on Jan. 18 making posters in Carlo Corti’s classroom that conveyed their feelings on the matter. While the turnout wasn’t as large as some may have hoped, as only a fraction of the staff participated, Corti wasn’t discouraged: “I think the statement [made during the protest] is gonna be more important than how many people can give up a lunch period to make posters,” he explained.

The demonstrators held these posters during the walk-in the following day. The posters contained messages ranging from inclusiveness and equality to political statements. Multiple teachers held posters that said “Aragon welcomes all students” while others’ had red crosses over Betsy DeVos’ face.

“I believe public education is a human right. It is included in the [United Nations] Declaration of Human Rights,” explains Prado.

Other teachers questioned DeVos’ ability to run the country’s Department of Education. “If you’re not directly involved in education, I don’t think you understand the Secretary of Education’s [job] and why Mrs. Devos is not the best choice for the job,” says Hontalas, “She’s a billionaire, and there aren’t any billionaires running public schools.”

In an email sent out to the Aragon community on Jan. 18, Leadership advisor Melissa Perino explained how, “Our Board of Supervisors recently took action to ensure that our district will be a ‘sanctuary district’ that does not attempt to get rid of undocumented students, and we would like to show support for this action.”

The vast majority of the Dons in attendance on Thursday preached for an equal and safe school community, supporting the District’s efforts to protect its undocumented students.

“All students deserve an education and deserve to be treated equally and deserve to make a change and do something wonderful,” says freshman Christopher Wratten. “Regardless [of] if they’re illegal or not, they’re human beings”

Others, such as SMUHSD Superintendent Kevin Skelly, feel it is the District’s job to protect its undocumented students: “Kids come to our school,” he explains, “and we have a responsibility to educate them as well as we possibly can, and provide them with a safe and nurturing environment.”

In relation to the message of the walk-in, as a representation of the safe place Aragon promotes, safety pins were put out on the same day for students and faculty to take before school and during brunch. SMUHSD Teacher’s Association Vice President Kirt Peterson says, “The message is generally, as the safety pin would suggest, whoever has one of these, you are going to be safe here. You get to keep them. Wear them every day if you feel like it’s important. I think the message is good for anyone to wear it.”

With this demonstration, participants hope to set a precedent for Aragon as a safe and inclusive environment for all students.

Prado concludes, “Simply, even a little bit of awareness goes a long way.”