INGLEWOOD, Calif. – How’s this for hypocrisy on the part of the public school administrators?

They welcome student protests that support teachers and their unions, but stand in the way when students want to protest wasteful school spending.

EAGnews has reported on numerous occasions about student walkouts in various districts across the nation, usually in support of teachers who are angry about slow union contract negotiations with local school boards.

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In those cases it’s been pretty clear that the students were heavily influenced by their teacher’s complaints, which they probably heard in the classroom. And when they walked out, most teachers and administrators stepped aside, saying the kids were merely expressing their First Amendment right to free speech.

The latest example of this type of thing was Feb. 5, when hundreds of students from several different high schools in Portland, Oregon walked out in support of teachers, hours before the teachers were scheduled to have a strike vote.

Last year, in Santa Cruz, California, between 150 and 200 students walked out of class “in support of teachers entangled in a contract dispute with the school board.”

The district superintendent applauded the students, but said he would have preferred to have them stay on campus and join the teachers in a lunch time rally.

“We have encouraged them to exercise their free speech rights,” the superintendent was quoted as saying by the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

“Although teachers and union leadership had no part in organizing the student walkout, it was moving and inspiring to see this large group of young adults stand up for what they believe is right,” the local teachers union president said.

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But earlier today, students in the Inglewood, California district tried to walk out in protest of excessive school spending. They learned through a local television news report that the cash-strapped school district, which has been taken over by state officials, recently wasted $38,000 to send administrators and staff on a retreat to an expensive resort.

Now that’s something for students (and every citizen of the school district) to be upset about.

But when the students tried to walk out in protest, they were stopped, and a reported 175 police officers from three different departments were dispatched to keep the kids in school.

Either students have a right to express themselves through peaceful protest or they don’t. Authorities should not have the right to pick and choose what types of issues they are allowed to address.

The sad fact is that public schools all over the nation waste a ton of money on labor costs every year, at the expense of students. It’s about time kids and their parents start to understand that many teachers and their unions are all about themselves, and are not on their side.

It was sickening to watch news footage of the students being locked in and treated like potential rioters just because they wanted their voices to be heard. Take a look at the attached video and see if you don’t agree.