Seattle Public Schools students attending Friday’s Climate Strike at Cal Anderson are going to learn the first lesson of advocacy and public service: self sacrifice.

The district won’t be excusing any absences Friday.

Wednesday, District 3 representative Kshama Sawant joined students at S Jackson’s Washington Middle School in calling on the district to release its thousands of students from class on Friday so they can attend the rally without chalking up an unexcused absence.

Officials say the district’s hands are tied due to board policy and state law. Multiple unexcused absences could spur disciplinary action by the district.

Private schools can take a nimbler approach. Capitol Hill’s Northwest School announced this week “that a majority of its faculty and student body” will be part of Friday’s strike.

CHS reported here on the return and hopes for growing Climate Strike efforts at Cal Anderson following another student-led strike in March when hundreds of students from schools around the region rallied in Cal Anderson to call for more to be done to address environmental damage and in support of Green New Deal initiatives. This week’s strike is being organized in conjunction with “2,500 strikes planned globally and over 650 in the US alone,” organizers say.

Monday, the Seattle City Council passed Sawant’s resolution supporting the strike. Included in that resolution was a call urging “Seattle Public Schools to support its students’ right to assemble and participate in the Global Climate Strike.”

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