On May 31st, Yolanda Whitley, Assistant Principal at Philly O Berry Acedemy, was standing at the doors of the Phillip O Berry courtyard when Micah Hollins, a student at Phillip O Berry, who has early release, was trying to make his way to the front of the school to the CATS bus stop and to go home.
Micah said "excuse me" as he tried to make his way into the building, but Ms. Whitley grabbed his arm and intentionally stumbled back to make it appear that Micah was acting belligerent towards her.
After that she exclaimed "Don't push me!" repeatedlly shouting "Don't put your hands on an adult!". Much to Micah's confusion, another Berry staff member immediately cosigned with Ms. Whitley.
Strangely enough, when they were asked to describe the situation, the two stories didn't align. A decision was made on Micah's suspension without all the eyewitness statements and without clear camera footage being gathered. The only evidence that was used was a statement from the other Berry staff member, who wasn't at an appropriate angle where they could clearly see what happened.
Also, the two students who witnessed this, didn't even have their statements gathered before Micah was punished.
Micah is an exemplary student with no disciplinary history, a 3.7 GPA and will be attending Howard University in the fall. Now, due to these events that occured Micah is suspended for the rest of the school year, and willl not be able to walk across the stage with his fellow classmates at graduation.
Please sign this petition to at least allow Micah the satisfaction of walking across the stage with his fellow classmates on June 13th.
