NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A Long Island high school student was arrested on Thursday after he tried to enter his school despite being suspended for protesting remote learning by attending in-person classes on a virtual learning day, police and the school said.
William Floyd High School student Maverick Stow, 17, was arrested and charged with third-degree criminal trespass on Thursday morning, Suffolk County police said. He will be issued a desk appearance ticket, according to police.
School officials called the police when Stow arrived at the Mastic Beach campus around 7:10 a.m., police said. A spokesman for the school district confirmed Stow's arrest, saying Stow "continues to display irresponsible and selfish behavior with today’s latest publicity stunt."
"He arrived wearing a neon green shirt — for high visibility — with a contingent of media just outside the fence line trying to capture him getting arrested as he entered the building," the spokesman said. "As a result, if Mr. Stow continues to try to access school grounds each day that we are open, we will close the high school — and its approximately 3,000 students — to all in-person learning and it will be all virtual for the foreseeable future."
"Any attempt by a student who has been suspended or any other unauthorized person trying to enter school grounds is taken extremely seriously and will be met with the most severe consequences," he added. "School safety is a top priority especially in this day and age."
Stow was suspended for five days at the end of the school day on Tuesday, after he showed up to classes despite the fact that he was scheduled to learn remotely that day. The school district's spokesman said Stow also showed up to the school on Wednesday morning, despite the suspension, and "continued to display insubordinate behavior — even at one point squaring up to a district official and stating that the district would have to 'forcibly remove' him from school grounds."
Stow told ABC7 he felt the school shouldn’t be letting COVID-19 concerns keep it from holding in-person classes for all of its students each day. Students at the school alternate between in-person and remote learning on certain days to allow for social distancing.
“I was going to school like students should be going to school,” he said. “I think that a five-day suspension is out of line.”
Stow’s mother and father both said they stood behind his protest.
“Kids need to be in school every day,” his mother, Nora Kaplan-Stow, told the outlet. “Virtual learning is not learning.”
The school district's spokesman on Thursday said Stow's "rights as a student do not surpass the rights of any of our other 8,799 students; they should not have to come to school to witness this circus atmosphere each day."
"Most of our in-person classes at the high school are at maximum capacity according to the square footage of each classroom. It is just not possible to have all of our students back under the current social distancing regulations," the spokesman said. "We will not condone or allow students to flagrantly break the law in our schools."