November 6, 2007
Dr. Ben Nowakowski
Superintendent
District 201
2423 South Austin
Cicero, IL 60804

Dear Dr. Nowakowski:

We, the parents and family members of the Morton West students who chose civil disobedience last Thursday to express their desire for an end to the Iraq War, have already requested that both their suspensions and orders of expulsion be dropped, but our requests have been denied. We now demand complete amnesty for our children. We also demand that any references to expulsion and accusations of mob action be removed from their permanent records and that their punishment constitute suspensions already served.

Our children participated in a nonviolent demonstration--a sit-in, which they moved at your request to a location that did not obstruct school traffic. They were under the understanding that they would not be expelled if they moved to the appointed area, but that they would suffer only the usual punishment for cutting classes. According to the Morton West handbook, our children are guilty of loitering. There is no expulsion listed as a consequence of this behavior.

We support a safe and productive learning environment in the school, but we also understand that our children are thinking individuals and a reflection of the larger society. They were expressing the view of an overwhelming majority of Americans that the Iraq War is wrong, a view that was expressed by adults through a large demonstration only five days before in Chicago. These young people were emulating the actions of their elders without the wisdom to distinguish civil disobedience from a permitted march.

Yet, these children, who are aggressively recruited in the school by the military need to be able to express their concerns about their futures in this world. Therefore, in addition to demanding complete amnesty, we request that students be afforded some avenue of legal and acceptable expression about the issues that are relevant to their lives and that they want to communicate to the wider school community.

We are proud that although our sons and daughters endured intense pressure from administrators, parapros and police, they maintained a peaceful protest. There was no violence, no property damage and the students cleaned up after themselves. They showed themselves to be truly committed to a peaceful world. We believe that these are exactly the students needed to achieve and maintain a safe and productive school environment. We do not seek to squander scarce district funds fighting lawsuits, however, we will not permit any one of these students' educational future to be so undeservedly destroyed.

Finally, we require a response to this letter by the Board Meeting on Wednesday night November 7th, 2007 so that our children may return to the classroom on Thursday.

Signed:

Signatures of Morton West Parents

cc: Principal John Lucas
District 201 Board of Education Members