Three Catholic High seniors advocate for student rights
On March 10th, three seniors, Andrew Cetina-Crouch, John Guerrero-Lopez, and Mick Kline, took time out of their school day to speak at the Capitol against a section of a bill that would encroach on high school students’ freedom of speech and protest.
House Bill 1512, known as the Arkansas ACCESS Act, underwent its first legislative session on Monday. The session was called for a specific part of the bill, Section 23, which states: “A public school district or open-enrollment public charter school shall not grant excused absences for purposes of political protest, social or public political advocacy, or attempts to influence legislation or other governmental policy-making at the local, state, or federal level.”
Many college and high school students across the state took issue with the elimination of excused absences for protest. “Sen. Dan Sullivan [R-Jonesboro] told us that students nationally were using protest as a way to get out of school. This excuse was a fabrication to silence students from protesting,” said Guerrero-Lopez.
While there were plenty of students speaking out for their peers, Kline believes that more students should join the fight. “Inside the demographics of Catholic High, there are smart students who could have decent voices but are just not aware enough to speak on the issue,” said Kline.
After hearing all statements from the students, bill sponsors amended Section 23 to allow for parent-approved absences in public policy advocacy and influencing legislation. Still, excused absences for political protests and walkouts are prohibited. According to Cetina-Crouch, the fight against student censorship rages on. “Their goal was to completely disallow student voices, so they still get what they want in legislating over a non-issue. The bill still infringes on our freedom of speech,” said Cetina-Crouch.
