Students walk out of school over principal’s truancy comments

<h2><strong>More than 100 students walked out of a Hamilton high school in protest after the principal said truants are more likely to wind up being a rape victim&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>Principal Virginia Crawford told a Fraser High School assembly last week that truants were also more likely to go to prison and commit or be a victim of domestic violence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>She said the more a student was truant&comma; the more likely they will end up a statistic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The students filed out of the school and up the drive to the road just before 10am&period; They spent the next 40 minutes hanging around in groups on either side of the street&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Some students said they felt strongly that the principal had used language that probably was too strong and not appropriate for schoolchildren&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One student&comma; Sih Hunia&comma; said many of those protesting just wanted to stand up for themselves&period; He said Ms Crawford should have toned down her comments&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The school&comma; which has a roll of about 1500&comma; has made no comment on the protest&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;