furutaniflag1 Assembly Bill 1174, a proposal by a Lakewood High School civics class that would shield minor-aged public school students from being solicited by adults as they come or go to class, will be considered by the Education Committee on April 13—and the Lakewood High students are sending a delegation to Sacramento to testify.

“It’s awesome,” says Wendy Salaya, who teaches the seniors-only class called Civic Voice. “This experience has completely transformed these students’ sense of what is possible with our form of government.”

The language of AB 1174, finalized on March 17, amounts to a slight but potentially significant rewrite of a portion of the state Education Code, extending protections to provide legal recourse against anyone who “willfully disturbs any public school, any public school activity or any public school meeting.” It also includes this definition: “As used in this section, ‘public school activity’ includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the arrival and departure of pupils to and from public school grounds during school hours…”

Although nobody knew it at the time, the bill was conceived last summer as a shared grievance by some Lakewood High students, who complained that they have been victimized over the years by adults—mostly from fundamentalist Christian groups—attempting to spread their beliefs by intercepting them on the sidewalks outside schools. The students had become weary of Gideons bearing Bibles, appalled by the kind of demonstrations held last year by the Westboro Baptist Church and concerned that such tactics could be applied to other causes. They contended that the free-speech rights of the proselytizers should not apply because minor-aged students going to and from school don’t have the right to avoid them.

“It’s a law that we have to come to school every day,” pointed out Todd Thomas. “At home, I don’t have to open the door when someone knocks. At the store, I don’t have to use the entrance where someone may be standing—or I don’t have to go to that store at all.

“But walking in and out of school, I don’t have a choice; there are only a few entrances and exits, and every day I have to go through one of them. If some adult is waiting there to talk to me, I can’t avoid it.” furutanikids

By autumn the seniors’ complaint had become their class project. During the winter it became a campaign to write their state representatives, which brought 55th district Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-Long Beach) into the mix. A few weeks into the new year he introduced AB 1174. Now it’s spring, and a bunch of kids who a few months ago didn’t know the names of their state representatives are budding political activists.

Not that all of them relish the prospect of spending April 13 lobbying and testifying in Sacramento. The students’ push for AB 1174′s passage through the Education Committee includes plans for a press conference on the steps of the Capitol and visits to the offices of various committee members before actually making their case in the hearing room before a panel of circumspect politicians.

“Some of the students are a little bit freaked out about the whole thing,” acknowledges Salaya. “They’re like, ‘Wait—we didn’t know this was going to happen when we started writing letters.’ Most are a little nervous. But there are a few that are, ‘No, I don’t want to go.’ They are scared.”

Salaya gets where they are coming from.

inspiresign “Put yourself in shoes of a 17- or 18-year-old kid—this is a world they are not used to,” says Salaya, who stops just short of asking you to put yourself in her shoes, and restrains herself from reminding you it was only six years ago that she left a career in retail sales to become a teacher. She simply adds, softly, “It’s certainly not anything I’m used to, either.”

Salaya estimates that the Lakewood High delegation will amount to 10 or 12 people, and she emphasizes that the group could use some financial support.

The text of AB 1174:

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Education Code is amended to read:
32210. Any (a) A
person who willfully disturbs any a
public school , a public school activity,
or any a public school meeting is
guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not more
than five hundred dollars ($500).
(b) As used in this section, “public school activity” includes,
but is not necessarily limited to, the arrival and departure of
pupils to and from public school grounds during school hours as
defined in subdivision (e) of Section 32211.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local
agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a
new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or
changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of
Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a
crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the
California Constitution.
SECTION 1. Section 33534 of the Education Code
is amended to read:
33534. The Superintendent of Public Instruction, or his or her
representative, shall serve as executive secretary to the commission.