Saturday, February 1, 2014

Student Body President Asks to be Allowed to Attend School - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher

Student Body President Asks to be Allowed to Attend School - Living in Dialogue - Education Week Teacher:



Student Body President Asks to be Allowed to Attend School

A student and her siblings this week had their permission to attend school within the Alhambra Unified School District (AUSD) revoked. Maia Wu is the president of the 8thgrade class, and an excellent student. She and her younger brother and sister live outside the District boundaries, but until recently were allowed to attend by way of an inter-district transfer, which has now been revoked. So what has transpired to lead the District to give her the boot? According to Ms. Wu, the District is reacting to her outspokenness.
I sent a message to AUSD Superintendent Dr. Laura Tellez-Gagliano, to see if the District would respond, but have not received anything so far. Here is the video Maia Wu posted a few days ago, followed by the text. It already has more than 12,000 views. 





Dear friends of the Alhambra Unified School District,
My name is Maia Wu. I am 13 years old, in the 8th grade and I'm student body president of my school carrying a 4.0 GPA. I live in Los Angeles, California and I attend Monterey Highlands Elementary in Alhambra, part of the Alhambra Unified School District.  I live with both my parents and have two siblings. My father is a veteran of war who served in Iraq and my mother is a stay at home mom. My younger sister is in the 6th grade and is 11 years old. My little brother is in the 2ndgrade and just turned 8.  I am writing this open letter to bring awareness to a civil rights issue that is brewing in our community.  And I am pleading my case to be allowed to return to school. 
Currently in my school, parents and teachers are afraid to speak out against what they feel is wrong, which is something that should not be accepted as the "norm". Unfortunately, it's not just teachers