Protest participants won't be suspended, returning to class

Berwyn Schools Superintendent Ben Nowakowski says most students suspended over an anti-war protest at Morton West High School will be back in class Wednesday. He says none of the suspended students will be expelled.

Fourteen of the 18 students suspended after the November 1 sit-in are due back in school. The remaining four, who Nowakowski said bore the most responsibility for disrupting classes, can return to school Friday.

Shortly after the protest, Nowakowski said the suspensions was the school's reaction to the interruption of the school day, not with the students expressing themselves. Many of the students were threatened with expulsion.

Rita Maniotis of the Parent Teacher Organization says the suspended students' parents will talk to the school board to make sure the penalties don't appear on the students' records.