Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 19, 1990                   TAG: 9005190311
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PROTESTERS SUSPENDED IN SALEM/ STUDENTS WALK OUT TO PROTEST FOAM

The majority was disciplined for leaving school grounds, Principal John Hall said. Two were suspended for smoking, he said.

Somewhat less than 40 students stayed out of class and demonstrated against the use of plastic foam products in the school cafeteria, Hall said.

The penalties for three students who refused to return to class were different from those imposed on other students, Hall said.

Hall said he appreciated the sincere concern for the environment some of the students have, but he viewed the protest as redundant.

On May 8, senior government students presented the city School Board with a 700-name petition in support of doing away with the foam products at the school. In response, the board agreed to consider removing the items.

Hall believes the demonstration's timing had something to do with Friday's nice weather.

Most of the suspended students got one-day suspensions that will be effective Monday, Hall said.

The demonstration was over by late afternoon. Hall said many students agreed to return to class after he told them how they could go through proper channels to express their concerns.

Hall said he scheduled appointments with some of Friday's protestors to talk about their concerns.

William Craft, the father of Angel Pendleton, 14, who was suspended, said he could have understood if his daughter was suspended for taking part in the protest. However, he said he couldn't understand why she was suspended for going to a nearby restaurant to use the restroom after she was told she couldn't use the restroom in the school unless she returned to class.

The students were doing something they believed in and were acting on a concern for the environment that the school had been "drilling into their heads," Craft said. He said he felt refusing his daughter the use of a restroom posed a health hazard.