On Thursday February 5, students at the Synergy Quantum Academy approached the front gate of their school as part of an LAUSD-wide walkout against the ICE raids in Los Angeles and in solidarity with Minneapolis’s organizers against Operation Metro Surge.
The day prior, hundreds of Synergy Quantum students had held another walkout where, according to Synergy, several students suffered minor injuries caused by jumping over the front gate while it was locked.
Teacher Ricardo Lopez was present at the front gate on Thursday and, after having received images from the school regarding some of the student’s injuries, decided it was best to open the gate to allow the kids to easily walk out, minimizing potential harm from occurring again.
Within the hour, Lopez was terminated from his position. He was escorted out of the premises and unable to grab all of his belongings.
“It hurt,” Lopez tells L.A. TACO. “I felt almost like a criminal. Some of my students saw me being escorted out.”
“Me being the closest adult and trying to prevent other students from jumping the gate, I opened the gate for them,” he says. “Within an hour, I was let go.”
L.A. TACO was present at a press conference hosted by Lopez, Union Del Barrio, and the Association of Raza Educators on Tuesday, February 10, where advocates, students, parents, and faculty described their frustration at the termination of this beloved history teacher, demanding he be reinstated.
In Lopez’s speech, he offered one clear message: “Protecting students should never be grounds for punishment.”
One of the high school students who also spoke said, “We are the history of now, and if we don’t speak up, challenge injustice, and take initiative, then justice and equality will never be given to us . . . [Mr. Lopez] didn’t tell us what to think, he taught us how to think critically, how to question power, and how to use our voices to make sure we are heard.”
Lopez had been at Synergy for two years.
According to Lopez, his termination was the result of a violation of an LAUSD policy. We have reached out to Synergy for comment regarding that policy, but have received no reply.
