Belmont: the 2000 Walkout

Before we can discuss where I am going, we have to address how I got here. Really, it all began the day I became the first granddaughter of Ana Ramirez Fernandez and Teresa Perez Mendoza as I was named after my maternal and paternal grandmothers. Ana is strong, stubborn, hard working and social butterfly, while Teresa is extremely ethical, giving, equally hard working and determined but far more private. Each raised numerous children in a new country away from their immediate families. They worked outside the home and always hardest within the home. Each of their first born children would later become my parents: Lupe Mendoza-Fernandez and Raul Fernandez.

For as long as I can remember, my parents were always educators. My mom now works at the same elementary school she attended and I attended. My father has been a principal for most of my life. Both are LAUSD employees and without the comprehensive medical benefits they received when I was a child, I don't know how we would have gotten through my severe asthma, random hives and of course, lovely therapy! LAUSD, which by the way stands for the Los Angeles Unified School District, UTLA, which is the Unitied Teachers of Los Angeles, and finally, AALA, the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles, were all acronyms I knew and understood by five. These organizations filled by head with awe as a child. I admired the adults who worked tirelessly for those organizations everyday.

So before I get to the true catalyst leading to my 2010 walkout, I have to provide two poignant memories that I am confident shaped my decision to walkout in 2000. As a child, my family - like typical Latino families then - were regular Sunday mass attendees. With three kids, we were always late and had to stand outside because the church was literally so packed there was not even standing room inside! Standing was especially exhausting and as a young child, you can imagine how eagerly distracting it was BUT my parents always provided an incentive for good behavior. See this was before our current food truck and street vendor food craze, this was a time when police openly harassed street vendors because most were not legal residents. I remember many times being in line to order a hot and crunchy churro but became disappointed when the vendor began rushing to pack their cart and run away because the police were coming to arrest and/or give tickets to the street vendors. And one day when this happened, the police took it to far.

Police came to arrest one of our favorite vendors but in the process, they overturned the cart and really started harassing the woman vendor. My parents tried to intervene but to no avail. The police hauled the woman to jail. My parents immediately packed us in our van and to my surprise, followed the police to jail. I am not clear on how but at the end of this scenario, the woman vendor was released and my parents helped her get home with all her belongings. It was one of the first times I learned how important it is to stand up for others, even when the outcome may not directly benefit you.

To this day, nothing warms my heart like a successful protest. Success is defined in this instance as there not being any rioting or police interference. I love to see humans come together - regardless of the issue - and take a moment from their personal lives to advocate for what they believe in for themselves and others. It is a powerful action that has to be appreciated and respected. It is alarming how many people may never take that action in their lifetime. My first vivid memory of protesting was actually for an action that would directly benefit employees but I know those employees only worked there because they actually cared about kids. In 1989, I infamously "walked the line" with my mother and her fellow UTLA teachers. I was a young kid but I remember my siblings and I were taken out of school to join my mom in the major teacher strike against LAUSD. I loved holding the sign and yelling the chants. Now as an adult, I am not crazy about the idea of using kids at protests because I am not sure they really understand what the issues are BUT in this instance, it proved to be a vital lesson for me on organizing and standing up for what you believe in.

And now we arrive to the year 2000 - I was a carefree and active high school senior at Belmont High School. Belmont was a downtown high school that sat on 9 acres and served 5,500 students. There were three major buildings on the campus with multiple floors and narrow hallways. It was a few months before our big graduation. We were an important class because we were graduating in the year 2000. As a kindergarten student, I remember they took special pictures of us in t-shirts announcing our high school graduation year. We were constantly reminded that we were a special class - the first of the new millennium. And what I also remember quite vividly was a promise that we would be graduating for a special new state-of the -art high school. It would be the first high school built in decades and we would be the first graduating class.

Let me be blunt...the high school I graduated from was far from state-of-the-art but like all teenagers absorbed in their world, I never really noticed or cared about the condition of the school I attended. I was consumed with being a cheerleader, being with my friends and boyfriend as well as being Class and School President. Like all seniors, I was busy ruling our school until one day when I was abruptly pulled out of class by our Principal Ignacio Garcia.

Principal Garcia, with his warm smile, pulled me from second period to ask if I could do an interview with a Channel 7 news reporter. I eagerly accepted this opportunity. The news reporter was short with me and only smiled when the camera lights when on. That afternoon there would be a controversial vote on the Belmont Learning Complex, which was the much hyped and promised new high school I was supposed to graduate from. There was a special commission formed to make a final recommendation to the LAUSD School Board about completing the much needed high school. There was also a lot political controversy surrounding the project and most recently, allegations of environmental contamination which would require significant financial investment to mitigate. School Districts never have enough money and many thought too much had already been invested in the project.

So when the camera and lights were rolling, the question I was asked was "How do you feel about the decision NOT to finish building the Belmont Learning Complex?' I immediately responded in shock and not because I thought they would vote no but because they hadn't even voted yet! How could this reporter know something that hasn't even happened yet? So I of course asked to which he responded, "Everybody knows it is not going to happen" and with that, he said he didn't have time for this and left without any student commentary. During nutrition I was still shocked and now becoming upset that this critical decision was already made without going through the appropriate public process. While sharing this frustration with my friend Lester Peralta, he came up with a suggestion for action - a walkout.

And sure enough we did it. During third period, we made poster signs announcing a walkout at lunch. By fourth period, I was asking teachers to step outside their classroom while Lester entered with the sign showing it to the students and directing them to walkout with us at lunch. We did this for every classroom on the second and third floors of the main building. I was fueled by anger and determination to stop this inequity and unfair action.

When lunchtime came I was scared out of my mind. I didn't just have butterflies in my stomach but an entire jungle. I went into a zone and I wasn't even sure if Lester or any of my other friends were standing next to me. I just focused on the main doors of the entrance to our school. Principal Garcia stood there and announced that we were not permitted to leave and there could be consequences for any action against this directive. Then I don't know how or from where but I found the strength and the courage to start walking. I went through those doors and starting walking around the campus but it wasn't until I heard a faint voice calling my name that I turned back. It was my high school boyfriend asking if I still needed a ride home after school. I am not even sure I responded to him because I was immediately overwhelmed when I realized 500 students were following me! And then I began to chant: "Build our school!"

Long story short, we arrived to the commission that day and were provided a chance to speak. For the first time and without any prior preparation we all started sharing our horror stories of going to an overcrowded high school. We didn't know until then how bad it was and we had never even spoken about it to each other before. One of the stories I will never forget was my friend crying about her fear of dying if there was an earthquake or fire because she knew we barely made it to our classes during passing period but in an earthquake with panic you couldn't get that many students out of the building fast enough.

The commission voted 5-4 in favor of completing the Belmont Learning Complex. Unfortantely, the decision to build the school was not finalized then. We walked out every Board meeting until graduation. We continued to rally for our promised high school. We graduated on Crown Hill, Belmont's football stadium. Of the total population of ninth graders that started with my class in 1996, only approximately 30% of us graduated from Belmont High School four years later in 2000. I can only imagine that statistic would be higher if we had a less crowded campus with smaller class-size ratios. It was too easy to get lost at Belmont.

Yet somehow in the midst of all of that, I didn't get lost. I walked through those doors which created a path for me to arrive where I am today. This post is already too long so I have to end it here but the following posts will talk about what came of that 2000 Walkout. What happened to Belmont since then and to the girl who walked through those doors?