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# Sending a red flag to the school district
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/sending-a-red-flag-to-the-school-district/
- Published: 2002-04-13T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T00:14:19.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Pico, #archive-import

*By Richard Firth Santa Monica*

Editor: As a child of the ‘60s, I know just how attractive cause-related rallies can be for high school and college students. There is a euphoric feeling of standing up for something important and the thrill of marching together for a cause. In addition, I am proud that the Samohi faculty who support this particular cause set an example for their students by standing up for their individual beliefs.

While I haven’t personally seen any third-party validation for the claims being made on either side of the Doubletree issue, why should that stand in the way of a good, gut-level campus protest rally and march. I must admit, I’ve uttered the thrilling words, “On Strike — Shut It Down!!” a few times myself in my youth.

What I find very disturbing is that labor and community organizers were present at this supposedly SCHOOL rally and march. As far as I know, this is clearly against the policies of Samohi, the board of education and the Santa Monica Unified School District, who have individually and collectively discouraged efforts to draw the Santa Monica school campuses into on-going labor issues. In my opinion, holding the event after school doesn’t change a thing.

Since Mr. de la Torre of the Pico Youth and Family Center freely admits that the rally was for purely political/publicity purposes, it should have been limited to those who belong on the Samohi campus... the faculty and students. A purely “campus” event would certainly have been better PR for the organizers and their campaign. His concern seems to have been mostly for popularizing the “cause” and not for the safety of the Samohi students participating.

The school district should have certainly been made aware of these outside organizers/participants prior to the rally occurring... since it is the district that would have been held accountable if violence had broken out or a student had been otherwise injured during the rally or march. Let's not kid ourselves, this was not just a “football game, pep rally or any other school event.” This was clearly an organized labor rally and march with the potential for violent conflict should student or outside opponents confront the marchers, causing the waiting police to act. If tempers had flared, the news story might have been very different.

Why wasn’t this information provided to the proper authorities? Were the faculty members attending the event fully briefed on the purpose of the rally and who would be involved? Perhaps the large number of fully-armed police officers behind the Doubletree Hotel should have raised some concern with the Samohi administration and made the attending faculty uneasy. Furthermore, it is unrealistic to ever expect the campus security officers to become the first line of defense should things go wrong, no matter how well trained they might be. Perhaps they should have consulted the history department faculty for a more clear perspective.

Superintendent Deasy is doing the right thing in investigating the claims made to the district by the union organizers. He is a concerned administrator who wants to act responsibly in financial matters that could benefit the district. However, I am sure that he did not expect his investigation to become an open invitation for these same union organizers to come onto the Samohi campus to further their labor goals. In fact, I am fairly sure that neither the Superintendent nor the school district would have permitted such a rally had the true nature of its organization and participation been made clear to them.

I believe that the safety of my daughter and all the other Samohi students should be paramount in the approval of any campus-related activity or event. A clearly political or labor issue should send up a red flag at the district and in the Samohi administrative offices. If there is a real potential for violence or physical conflict on campus over the issue, approval should be denied.

Let the Samohi faculty and students freely discuss both sides of this or any other issue as part of the educational process. Heck, invite spokespersons from both sides to present their views as part of the debate. That kind of forum is a workable solution to presenting important community and social issues on the Samohi campus.

However, please don’t allow either side of this or any other issue to turn Samohi into a physical staging ground for their outside activities or put its students in possible jeopardy to further their own goals.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 13, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/041302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)