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South County Chronicle:

Some students at South County Secondary School say school officials punished them for expressing their political views. The teachers and administrators involved say that the students were reprimanded for acting inappropriately.

The controversy stems from a local politician’s visit to the school and his upcoming commencement address at the high school’s June 8 graduation ceremonies at the Patriot Center.

State Del. Dave Albo (R-42nd) lectured the 523 South County Secondary School seniors—most of them potential first-time voters—on state and local government during civics classes in May. Afterward, he handed out a constituent newsletter, paid for by his campaign, touting his accomplishments in Richmond. According to district regulations, candidates for public office may only distribute or display political literature at a time and place designated by the principal. Principal Jane Lipp said she gave no such authorization and was not aware that Albo handed out pamphlets.

But when members of the school’s Young Democrats in America club began distributing their own flyer on Albo’s rec-ord on education, teachers barred them from doing so, saying it was disrespectful and inappropriate.

“She said we were making it political when it wasn’t,” one student, who did not want to be named, said about her confrontation with teacher Friday Oeur. More disturbing, however, was her mandatory visit to the office of assistant principal Kaaren Lowder, the student said.
Lowder told the student that her actions weren’t “appropriate and that it was a disruption.” Lowder then asked the student about her grades, past disciplinary actions and how long she has lived in Fairfax County, according to the student. Lowder said: “She’d hate to see me mess up a perfect record over some dumb decision like this.”

Finally, the girl was told to write a “statement” explaining the incident and was forced to wear her concert T-shirt inside out for the rest of the day.

Lowder refused to discuss her meetings with any of the students involved and referred all questions to the Fairfax County Public Schools’ spokesman.

Oeur said that she confiscated the students’ flyers because she did not believe that Albo’s visit was the appropriate place for a discussion of his legislative record.

“I didn’t really understand where they were coming from,” Oeur said of the Young Democrats. “I personally didn’t want Mr. Albo to see [the flyers]. I didn’t think that was very fair to him because that wasn’t the forum that he was expecting to come in either.”

Teacher Wendell Johnson, who coordinated Albo’s visit, said he never told students to stop passing out their flyers, but that he agreed it was inappropriate.

“That flyer right there had no business being there for a lecture on state and local government,” Johnson said. “Now next fall, with our Meet the Candidates night, that would be the appropriate forum, because it is political.”

While the social studies department routinely invites local officials to address students on the topics of civics and government, “it’s not allowed to be a campaign platform,” said Principal Lipp. “We really go above and beyond to make sure that those rules are followed.”

Albo said he never saw the offending flyer and was unaware of the Young Democrats’ efforts.

“As I told them in the class, I don’t care if you are a Democrat or Republican,” Albo said. “All I care is that you care. If they have problems with some of my issue stances then that’s great, because it shows they care.”

Before Albo’s visit, a couple of students met with Lipp to voice their concerns about having a politician speak at graduation. They feared he could use the opportunity to enhance his reelection chances next fall. Lipp assured them that would not be the case but said that if the students really felt that strongly about it, they could always choose not to attend, said one of the students at the meeting who did not want to be identified.

“I had two girls come speak with me and I explained the [selection] process and they said they understood,” Lipp said.

Another assistant principal, Paula Disalvo, who stressed that commencement speakers are nominated and chosen by the student body, said she would review Albo’s speech before June 18.

Albo, who hasn’t penned his speech yet, said he was unaware of any controversy over his selection.

“I never heard any complaints for the last four years when I was a sponsor for the high school band event and when I was a sponsor of the all-night graduation party; I never had any complaints when I developed the financing mechanism to get the school built,” Albo said. “The students asked me to come speak because I love the school and have been involved since it’s been opened.”

Lipp noted that other politicians, such as former Rep. Tom Davis and former Secretary of State Colin Powell have spoken at graduations in recent years. However, neither man was running for election, as Albo is.