West Bend School District suspends 75 students following protests

75 students at West Bend East and West High Schools have been suspended by the West Bend School District following an out of control student protest.

West Bend East and West High School went into a soft lockdown after that protest got out of hand. Several students said there was a group trying to talk to school leadership about a new hall pass policy. The policy requires students to wear a hall pass around their neck when they want to leave class. It's a lanyard with sign on it that's half the size of a piece of printer paper.

About 350 students attended a November 20 meeting with school administrators to talk about the hall pass policy. Around 100 students became agitated and angry after administrators wouldn't change the policy. \"They wanted us to use these passes,\" Junior Molly Fry said. \"[they said we] Couldn't go to the bathroom the first and last five minutes of class. Would get a ticket, a truancy ticket, if we got caught without them. People didn't like that.\"

West Bend police say the district suspended 75 students of the student that had been detained by law enforcement. Police say their investigation into this incident is ongoing, and will either refer the students to the Washington County Juvenile Authorities or give them disorderly conduct citations.