Walkout a civics lesson

Students calling for schools to recognize Cesar Chavez's birthday by giving them a day off got an impromptu civics lesson Monday: Civil disobedience has its consequences.

On what would have been the 81st birthday of the leader of the farmworker rights movement, dozens of students from Sacramento schools left their campuses and made their way downtown to Cesar Chavez Park. They were there to express pride in their Latino roots and call for greater recognition of Chavez in the public schools.

"I think it's racist because Martin Luther King got a day. How come Cesar Chavez doesn't get a day?" asked Maria Jimenez, 16, a sophomore at Luther Burbank High School.

She had permission from her mom to leave school after a morning test and attend the event. But many other students had just walked out. They were met by police – in squad cars, on horses and riding bikes – who told the students they were truant.

"You're still in violation of state law," Officer Isaac Knutila told a small group gathered in the park. "You gotta get back to school."

Lt. Don Rehm said his officers picked up about 35 Hiram Johnson students as they marched to the park. They were taken to Sacramento City Unified School District's truancy center, he said.

Monday was a holiday for state workers and some local governments. But schools across the region were in session.

That's something activists are trying to change.

A group called By Any Means Necessary organized student protests across California on Monday, saying schools aren't doing enough to honor Chavez. Yvette Felarca, the organization's Northern California coordinator, said schools should close for Chavez's birthday and teach lessons about him in preceding days.

"Until this holiday is fully won and recognized the way it needs to be, this is going to continue," she said. "We're not going to accept second-class treatment."

Educators responded by saying the best way to honor Chavez is to stay in school. Jack O'Connell, state superintendent of schools, said he knew Chavez well. They were friends and political allies until Chavez's death in 1993.

"We want students to study his life, understand his belief system. He was a great American," O'Connell said. "But he would want students in school preparing for their future."

He urged schools to use curriculum the state has developed to teach about Chavez, who is considered the country's most prominent Latino civil rights leader. Chavez fought for better conditions for farmworkers, led a massive grape boycott in the 1960s and formed the United Farm Workers union.

"This is a teachable moment and a moment to learn more about Chavez," O'Connell said.

Students at Luther Burbank honored Chavez on Monday with a special event in the quad at lunchtime, said principal Ted Appel. There were speeches, Mexican music and posters with Chavez quotes decorating campus. Throughout the academic year, the school offers Latino leadership classes where students learn about Latin American history, Spanish classes designed for native Spanish speakers and after-school clubs especially for Latinas and Latinos.

Absenteeism was not especially high on Monday, Appel said.

"I think there are a lot of things happening in the school that are increasingly engaging Latino students in their own education and helping them to be active in the community," he said. "The result of that is that fewer students feel like it is valuable to simply walk out."

Some of those who had walked out changed their mind after the conversation in the park with Officer Knutila.

"I'm going back," Guadalupe Ramos, 15, told her friends as she left the park heading for school.

"I can't go to the truancy center again."

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