Student Who Helped Organize Protest Suspended

Berlin High School senior Lisa Andreana was given a five day out of school suspension and there is a possibility she will also receive an in school suspension upon her return.

Andreana helped organize a sit-in to protest the non-renewal of World Language teacher Mrs. Deborah Cassidy. She and her mother were notified Tuesday night that she was suspended.

Andreana is not sure if other students also have been suspended because she is out of school.

She admits that the beginning of the sit-in was not handled well by the students. She said some students yelled profanities and were acting out but the students quickly got down to business and started writing lists of why teacher Deb Cassidy should have her contract renewed.

"We tried to do a good thing and what we got was a lot of negative reaction from teachers and administrators," Andreana said. "The people who say what we did was negative are small-minded in my opinion. There is a lot more to the world than the halls of high school and if one doesn't sometimes take a stand for what they believe then they will continuously get walked all over. The administration said they wanted to work with the students to hear our concerns but I honestly think everything we said will fall on deaf ears."

Andreana also said she is hesitant to say anything else because she fears retribution by the teachers and administrators.

"I talked to (Student Resource Officer) Officer Germain and he said we weren't doing anything illegal but we needed to tone it down and we did," Andreana said. "They want us to make an appointment to see Mr. Kennedy and he has continually blown off meetings and doesn't talk to any of the students. He walks around the halls talking on his cell phone. I think he is more politician than educator."