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Derry Township School District sign on Homestead Road.

(DAN GLEITER, The Patriot-News, 2010)

HERSHEY — A recent Hershey High School alumnus told the Derry Township School Board that he would go on a hunger strike unless they met his demands, which include eliminating the Keystone Exams and abolishing the executive council.

Neil Muscat, who graduated in 2013 and now attends Penn State, handed the board a letter titled “A Declaration of Nonviolent Resistance.” He said Monday night that he drove two hours to attend the meeting to emphasize “the total and complete seriousness of what I'm about to say.”

He said students have no input into their education and are overly tested, which leads to “testation without representation.”

In his letter, he said “a dark tyranny holds the children of America in bondage.”

The educational system “overly focuses on performance, seriously inhibiting learning,” he said, and the Derry Township school system fully supports the excesses of the system.

“As an alumnus of Derry Township schools, I can no longer stand idly by, knowing the evils the students of the district must suffer,” he said. The school district's administration is “an authoritarian regime more fitting of a Middle Eastern despotism than the land of liberty.”

He told the board he would start a hunger strike Dec. 19 if they don't meet these demands:

The Keystone exams must not be taken by students and be removed as a graduation requirement.

The executive council, the subject of a recent report about secret meetings that might have violated the Sunshine Law , must be abolished.

A student board elected by students should have the power to review and approve all policies.

A committee of students and teachers should review alternative methods of grading and restructure how Derry Township evaluates its students.

“These four demands are meant to start a free democratic government for Derry Township School District and take a stand against the oppressive, authoritarian influence of the No Child Left Behind Act,” he wrote. “It is my wish that Hershey serve as a national role model against the darkness of grown-up repression.”

He left his letter for board members to read and his contact information. School Board President Maryellen Sheehan said somebody would get back to him.

This story was updated to include the letter from Neil Muscat.