THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 20, 1996 TAG: 9604200338
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Eleven Norview High School students who walked out of class Friday to protest the suspension of a popular English teacher have been suspended themselves as punishment.
The students were put out of school for 10 days for refusing a ``reasonable request'' to return to class, said Principal Marjorie Stealey.
About 50 students left their first-period classes at 9 a.m. and gathered on the school's front lawn. Stealey said a team of student leaders and school officials persuaded most of the protesters to return to classes after about 20 minutes, and they were not suspended.
Stealey said the event turned into a lesson in democracy. She said students were allowed to sign petitions that outlined their concerns about the suspended teacher. The petitions were presented to the school superintendent later in the day, she said.
``I hope we worked real hard to make the kids see that there is a right way to do things, that when they act in a responsible way or an appropriate way their voices will be heard,'' she said.
Students said they were protesting Tuesday's suspension of English teacher George A. Borum, 31, who has taught for two years in Norfolk schools. He began teaching at Norview last fall.
Administration officials said Friday that Borum was suspended with pay pending an investigation into alleged sexual harassment involving a female student at the school.
``There is an accusation that is being investigated of verbal sexual harassment,'' administration spokesman George Raiss said.
Borum could not be reached Friday. A spokesman for the Education Association of Norfolk said the group is helping Borum and has advised him not to speak publicly about the matter.
Students said Friday that Borum has been falsely accused. They also said he was worth getting suspended over.
``We want the one teacher back that we care about,'' said Mike Webster, a ninth-grader at the school. ``Teachers like him make school fun.''
Eleventh-grader Ashanti McDaniel, 18, said, ``He's a great teacher. I just feel it was an injustice what they did to him.''
As students filed out of the building, school security officers taped them with video cameras. Several police officers patrolled the area and turned away visitors.
Lynn Glenn, the mother of one suspended student, said the punishment was too harsh.
``Ten days is usually something dished out when you have a violent episode or for drugs or weapons, not for going out and sitting on the front lawn,'' she said.
Glenn and her son, 10th-grader James Glenn, 16, said they may sue the school system over it.
Administration officials said the suspended students will be required to appear before the School Board before being re-admitted to school. by CNB