A protest greeted Palisades High School students on October 8.
By NOAH ZARET
With MARGOT BARRETT
Friday, October 8, was indeed a hectic day for PaliHi students.
Upon arrival, students were bombarded by a crowd of parents protesting against the student vaccine mandate. They chanted “my child, my choice” in the face of students walking into school, some handing out flyers and advancing their personal medical opinions.
Though principal Dr. Magee was able to brace students for impact with an email, nobody expected a crowd that large, especially given its parental makeup. Paul Revere was hit by a similar group earlier in the week, so students were encouraged to get to school early and avoid confrontation.
Pali did a great job making sure students stayed safe while still allowing the protestors to exercise their freedom of speech.
As the academic day began, classes were interrupted with an announcement from the dean, in which he addressed the dress code policy. Almost instantly, his remarks fostered an outrage amongst Pali’s female student body, even prompting a social media account, “pali_dresscode_change.”
The account has grown exponentially over the past few days, gaining an astounding 27,000 views and hundreds of comments on a post of the dean’s recorded speech. While Pali has always had a dress code outlined in their Student Code of Conduct, it has not been enforced strictly until now, and students feel it unjustly prohibits even the most standard clothing articles such as leggings.
Female students deemed this dress code extremely out-fashioned and outdated, degrading their physical confidence and body positivity. Following the dean’s announcement, he issued a follow-up speech apologizing for his words and actions.
This week, Pali has given students the unique opportunity to work with the administration and revise the dress code, writing a new, modern rendition that could be implemented for years to come.
Much was still in store for the Dolphins after the 2:06 p.m. bell last Friday.
Two weeks ago, a famous rapper and influencer, Blue Face, posted to his 550,000 followers, stating that he would perform a school show for whichever school rounded up the most attention in his comment section.
Given Pali’s gargantuan student body, Dolphins were quick to rally, gathering hundreds of comments and surmounting the 20,000-plus other comments.
As promised, Blue Face arrived at Temescal Canyon Park as the bell rang, singing to students and signing clothing from the top of a U-Haul truck.
He brought along renowned artist Chrisean, and the two entertained hundreds of PaliHi students.
In the evening, Pali’s action-packed day continued on a strong note with the opening of “Avenue Q” by the school’s drama department. The musical comedy follows the storyline of puppets facing struggles in finding dates, jobs and purpose in life, with seniors Desi Friedberg and Ella Hobert as two of the play’s leads. “Avenue Q” is open to the public, with the final show this Saturday, October 16.
An impromptu concert took place in Temescal Canyon on October 8. Performers Blue Face and Chrisean performed atop a U-Haul.
Photo: Aidan Barton.
(Editor’s note: Zaret and Barrett are seniors at Palisades High. Zaret with Dylan Walsh started a student-driven tutoring company, TwoFoldTutoring.)
Curious. I’ve read several accounts that these were not parents of students at Pali high or Paul Revere, but were in some instances encouraged by right wing media and other organizations to protest mask and vaccine mandates at schools.
I would be curious to know if anyone has been able to confirm if any of the individuals are parents of local students.
Neighbors who have students at both schools say they were not parents of any of the local kids at our schools.
Actually, most of us there at Pali on Friday are parents of Pali students.
Yes I agree with the above comment I came to support the Pali parents and I noticed that
it was very peaceful.