Parents of Morton West High School students who face expulsion for holding a sit-in protest against the war in Iraq last week say they are considering legal action against the district.

Some of the 35 students who participated in the protest now face expulsion, while others have already been suspended. Officials say their actions disrupted the educational process. Parents say the punishment is too harsh, and plan to meet at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday outside of the high school, 2400 Home Ave. in Berwyn, to speak out against the disciplinary action.

“We don’t want this to come to a lawsuit, but we don’t think it’s appropriate that these children be expelled,” said Rita Maniotis, Morton West Parent-Teacher Organization president and parent of a student involved in the protest. “It’s definitely an overreaction. ... They’ve already been suspended this many days, and we think that has given them the message that they need to find another way to express themselves.”

School officials say the 35 students involved in the Nov. 1 protest disrupted the day for the school’s 3,400 students. Officials ordered the remainder of the students to stay in their classrooms until the protest was broken up by administrators and Berwyn Police, who were called in to help.

“Obviously they were disrupting the school process and when asked to move, they refused to do so,” said district board of education Vice President Joe Keating, who was not present for the protest. “They refused to take direction when asked to move, and where they positioned themselves created difficulty in normal operations, in getting students in and out of the cafeteria and using the cafeteria for lunch. ... They were somewhat loud and boisterous and disruptive in the way that they proceeded.”

Superintendent Ben Nowakowski and board of education President Jeffry Pesek did not return calls for comment.

Officials told protesters they were disrupting the school’s activities and needed to move outside of the cafeteria, Nowakowski said in a statement on the school’s Web site.

Some students returned to their classes, but 25 others locked arms and stayed put, the superintendent said.

Once students moved the protest from the cafeteria and into a hallway near the principal’s office, Nowakowski said the other students were released from their classrooms and permitted to go on with their normal schedule.

The students who continued to protest will now be brought up for disciplinary action by the district, which could include expulsion, officials said.

“There are a number of students who are being looked at for expulsion, and some students who played a lesser role who are being looked at for suspension,” Keating said. “Each student will be taken on a case-by-case basis. That student’s prior disciplinary record would also have to be taken into consideration.”

Rudy Hernandez, principal of the district’s alternative school, would oversee the expulsion hearings. Following the hearing, the board would need to OK the disciplinary recommendations made by Hernandez.

Keating declined to comment on whether or not he thought the student’s actions were worthy of expulsion, saying he would be voting on each student on an individual basis.

Maniotis’ daughter, Barbara, a junior at Morton West, took part in the protest and received a five-day suspension. Maniotis said the school’s handbook defines the students’ actions as “loitering,” which calls for a parent conference and possible detention or suspension.

Maniotis said in addition to a lesser punishment than expulsion, the parents are seeking “an avenue through which the children can express their feelings about issues that do pertain to their own lives.”

Though Berwyn police were on hand for the incident, Police Chief William Kushner said no criminal charges were filed against the students.

In a statement from Nowakowski on the district’s Web site, he said students were being punished not because they were protesting, but because of where they were protesting.

“Not only do students have a right to express themselves on matters of conscience but we encourage them to do so,” Nowakowski said in the statement. “In this instance, it is critical to note that the Morton administration did not say that the students could not protest. Rather, we asked that the students simply move their protest to an area of the school that would not disrupt the ability of the other 3,400 students at Morton West to proceed with their normal school day.”

The J. Sterling Morton High School District board of education will next meet Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Morton East High School, 2423 Austin Blvd. in Cicero.