On February 26th, the East Central Independent School District changed their public facing retelling of the events of a student led walkout on February 13th in an attempt to justify the harsh punishments heaped upon student protesters.
The district declared their 7 reasons for suspending students on their website and in a KSAT news article, listing offenses such as “directing profanity toward administrators and law enforcement officers working to keep students safe near a busy roadway,” “making obscene gestures toward a passing special needs bus,” “refusing to identify themselves so parents could be contacted,” and finally, going on to assert that no students were expelled or punished with alternative disciplinary school.
The ISD’s statement is brimming with contradictions to the experience of students in attendance of the walkout and that of parents present for the aftermath. One of the students in contact with Dare to Struggle recounted that there was a vehicle screaming slurs and profanities at students, to which admin and police did nothing, leaving the students to defend themselves. At no point did students hurl obscene gestures at a special needs bus. Another student told her parent after the walkout, that the protesters had had a friendly dynamic with school cops, not that they directed profanity at them. One student who was briefly expelled stated that the school was not attempting to gather student names to call their parents, but instead to distribute punishments, recalling that some students who walked back into the school without sharing their names did not receive any punishments, due to the fact that they had not been forced to identify themselves. It should be noted, that school administrators do not have a right to force students to identify themselves when off school property. It should also be noted, that students remained 100 yards away from the “busy roadway” that ISD is claiming to be protecting students from.
The administrators’ explanation obscures the events of this walkout and defames the character of the student protesters. The truth is, this student led protest was to speak out against ICE agents tearing apart families, killing protestors without consequence like Renee Good, and holding thousands of migrants in detention centers without an end in sight. Beyond disrupting business as usual, students also walked out to stand with their loved ones, classmates, neighbors, and relatives, who ICE has detained or deported.
According to a parent of two students that are in In School Suspension, the new seven bullet-point explanation contradicts the attitude of administrators and teachers at East Central directly following the walkout. When the parent picked up the students, admin claimed the walkout went “smoothly”, that students were peaceful, in good spirits, and mainly focused on ICE’s outrages and injustices.
On their website, the administrators justified their suspensions by one-sidedly emphasizing “student safety” and “permission” to protest without really grappling with the fear and concern that caused students to walkout in the first place. Contrary to this statement, the ISD put student safety second when they worked with police to trap and intimidate student protesters inside a local business and obstructed vehicles with their golfcart. The punishment for students for what basically amounts to truancy would typically mean an unexcused absence for one day. The combination of Out of School Suspension and In School Suspension in some cases totaling 45 days is an excessive punishment, suggesting that the board’s actions are not simply about punishing supposedly rowdy or tardy students as their statement claims.
The website also claims that no students were expelled or sent to alternative disciplinary school. The truth is that students were expelled and scheduled to be sent to alternative disciplinary school when original punishments rolled out, and both students and their families will confirm this. The Guardian of one such student was called with the notice of expulsion and expressed hopelessness at the chance for re-enrollment. Another Parent punished their student when they were informed that he would be sent to alternative disciplinary school. ISD can now deny these events because, following backlash from the public, they retracted these extreme punishments in favor of ISS and OSS. This illustrates that East Central originally over reacted and issued severe punishments to students, and had to switch things up when they realized that their blatant political repression would not go unnoticed. They have not publicly acknowledged their original misstep. At a minimum, the district engaged in intimidation and fear tactics by verbally issuing punishments they could not go through with, at worse, they issued these punishments with every intention to go through with and only changed course because they were called out.
ISD administrators and the school board again ignored the voices and demands of anti-ICE protestors at a school board meeting on February 26th where students and supporters planned to speak at public comment regarding the districts handling of the situation. According to an attendee, the meeting only lasted “from 5:00pm to 5:02” during which the board wielded a technicality to strike the names signed up to speak from the agenda and cancel public comment altogether. The meeting then moved to executive session and all the attendees were told to leave by police officers who ushered students, supporters, and the press off the property and across a busy street.
Students, parents, teachers, religious figures, activists, and progressive people like lawyers must continue to expose and politically fight back against school boards like East Central that are perpetrating political repression. We must break the silence and push them to rescind all the punishments and expunge the students’ records, not only because students should not be punished for their speech, but also because through this action, people will be empowered to continue the fight to stop the deportation machine and to free the detainees (74% of which have never been convicted of a crime).
Come to the forum against political repression on March 7th in Austin at Zaragoza Park at 4pm. Reach out to join the national No Tenemos Miedo network, which is a national network of student leaders who are protesting ICE and political repression. If you are a progressive lawyer who wants to stand with the people, reach out to us, the struggle against repression must be waged both inside and outside the courtroom.
To administrators and teachers: stand with the students and stand with immigrants. Do not fear the minority of leadership who threaten your careers and teaching licenses, or the politicians who threaten your districts, like Greg Abbot. Reach out to us to join the fight to stop the mass deportation machine and to oppose the political repression of student protesters. We’ve got your back.
You can also contribute by donating to support activists building a movement against ICE (and political repression against student protestors) here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-activists-building-a-movement-against-ice/cl/s?lang=en_US
You will be donating to cover printing flyers, posters, buttons, shirts, travel expenses, and future legal expenses from bogus charges. We are working to expose and mobilize people against the repression that many students and activists are facing from administrators and police for bravely standing up against ICE.
Sources
Dare to Struggle 