Deaf School protest ends peacefully
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Deaf school closes
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Baton Rouge Police and other law enforcement officers negotiated a peaceful resolution to a student-led protest at the Louisiana School for the Deaf today, taking at least one student into custody.
Students were allowed to protest in one lane while buses were allowed to enter and exit the school campus in another lane, said police spokesman Sgt. Don Kelly.
Clutching hand-made cardboard signs, more than 50 students from the school blocked buses from leaving as classes adjourned.
Carrying hand-lettered signs, some saying, “Save our School,” “We Love LSD,” and “We Want to Stay,” students marched up Brightside Drive, where the school is located.
“You’re making us miss out on our education,” said 19-year-old senior Brittney Lynch. “They’re forcing us to go home. That’s not fair. This is like our home.”
Police were called to handle the situation at the school at 3:07 p.m., Kelly said.
State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek announced Tuesday that the school will close temporarily, starting today. Pastorek said he wants to give administrators time to implement changes to ensure the school is a safe place for children.
Pastorek made the announcement 11 days after a 16-year old boy at the school allegedly sexually molested a 6-year-old girl on a bus hired by the school to take students home for the weekend.
Also, The Advocate has reported that five people – three of them current or former school employees – had been arrested between November 2007 and April for alleged sexual misconduct with juvenile students.
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