MANILA, Philippines - We, the officers of the Quezon City Science High School (QCSHS) Alumni Association are alarmed and concerned with the suspension of four QCSHS students by Dr. Zenaida P. Sadsad, reportedly to discipline them for criticizing her and some school officials in the students’ private blogs.
Such action appears to violate the constitutionally protected Freedom of Speech and the Declaration of Principles & State Policies (Article II) which affirms that “The State recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation-building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual, and social well-being” (Section 13).
We commend the swift and immediate action of the Department of Education (DepEd) leadership, led by Secretary Jesli Lapus and particularly Undersecretary Franklin Sunga, to hold in abeyance the imposition of the suspension pending a thorough investigation of the matter.
That there are human rights issues involved in this case, pursuant to the United Nation provisions on child protection, we urge the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) to pursue its own investigation to determine if indeed existing laws had been violated.
Student's rights
It is a settled issue that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503, 506, 89 S.Ct. 733, 736, 21 L.Ed. 2d 731 (students have First Amendment Rights to wear black armbands to class in symbolic protest of Vietnam War).
And while we of course appreciate the authority of educational institutions to maintain a code of discipline, we nevertheless uphold the Courts stand that exercising such prerogatives “cannot go so far as to be violative of constitutional safeguards”.
This is significantly true when the subject of the sanctions involve off-campus speeches and that evidence used to determine the alleged culpability “did not show material and substantial disruption of the work or discipline of the school,” Beidler v. North Thurston County School Disctrict, No. 99-2-00236-6 (protected student’s private website that ridiculed a school administrator) and Beussink v. Woodland School District (student’s vulgar criticisms of school on his personal blog did not rise to a “material disruption”).
Given that “material disruption” has not been established in this case, it appears that the sanctions meted by Dr. Sadsad on the students are not commensurate to the alleged offenses and go beyond the permissible limits provided for in the school’s Code of Discipline, to wit:
“(1) 10-day suspension; (2) No entry to school premises during period of suspension; (3) No make-up lessons/activities/tests during the period of suspension; (4) Not allowed membership/officership in any school organization; (5) Denied attendance in graduation rites; (6) Retraction of the write-up in their private journals/blogs in front of the student body and (7) non-issuance of certificate of good moral character from the principal.”
It is alarming to learn that Dr. Sadsad, by her own admission, unilaterally decided to retire the official and widely-referenced Student Handbook, without formal and expressed notice to the stakeholders, yet reference her report and recommendations to the Schools Division Superintendent on the suspension case from the very same Student Handbook that she retired.
We find Dr. Sadsad’s actions arbitrary, capricious and as DepEd said in its statements in the media, may have been committed without due process, when we base it on her selective disregard for existing mechanisms.
Validity of complaints
At the heart of this unfortunate situation are the four students and their concerns which they vented in their private blogs. And while a lot of furor from the administration has been made on the alleged offenses, we deplore the mute treatment that the school officials have adopted with respect to the issues raised by the students. Failing to address the issues raised by the students or validate the legitimacy of their complaints is not only a lost opportunity for improvement but more importantly, it is a total disservice to the educational process when dissent is resolved by merely punishing the alleged “problem makers” but totally ignoring the root cause of the problems.
We call on DepEd officials to conduct the investigation in a speedy, transparent and participatory manner. Consequently, we call on DepEd to immediately issue a preventive suspension order on Dr. Sadsad, while the investigation is in progress, to protect the interest of all parties concerned and inhibit any untoward action that may be prejudicial to the investigation and resolution of the case. As evidenced by the penalties imposed, certain aspects of the prevailing climate in the school environment give urgency to this call.
It is sad that our Alma Mater is now in the limelight under less than desirable circumstances which we feel could have been avoided had the case been managed within the school community and that the judicious exercise of prerogatives had been the order of the day.
The Alumni Association calls for a speedy and transparent resolution of the case against the suspended students and reiterates its call for the immediate order on the preventive suspension of the principal, Dr. Zenaida P. Sadsad while the investigation is in progress. — Officers & Board of Directors, QCSHS Alumni Association, Inc.