Students are urged to skip rallies

State and local education officials, citing safety concerns and potential financial penalties for schools, urged students Sunday to shun this week’s May Day immigration reform marches and stay in class.

The Tuesday demonstrations include a downtown Los Angeles rally that local transportation and law enforcement officials anticipate could draw as many as 500,000 participants. Although that would be smaller than the roughly 650,000 who showed up at last year’s May Day march, it would be the area’s biggest immigration rally this year. And it threatens traffic tie-ups that have prompted officials to urge the public to avoid downtown.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who appeared at a news conference with Los Angeles schools Supt. David Brewer and other local officials, said it was more important for students to be in class than to demonstrate. He urged educators to consider the day “a teachable moment” to address immigration and related issues. “I’m a strong believer in free speech ... but not at the expense of educational opportunity,” he said.

Schools officials also emphasized that widespread absences could raise safety issues for students who are away from campus and cause districts to lose some state funding.

But Los Angeles school officials, apparently resigned to the fact that some students will ditch class anyway, plan to provide bus service for students hoping to return to class after attending the downtown rally.

Last year, thousands of students showed up in the crowds. For students in sixth through 12th grades in the Los Angeles Unified School District, administrators reported an absentee rate of 27%, versus the usual 10%.

stuart.silverstein@latimes.com