Eastside students are being informed of their First Amendment rights as they continue to walk out of school in protest of President Donald Trump’s deportation efforts.
The walkouts are happening even as the Los Angeles Unified School District has sought to encourage students to remain in school, noting concern for student safety after a teen was stabbed on Friday, Feb. 7, during a protest in downtown L.A.
“While we support the rights of our students to advocate for causes important to them, we are gravely concerned for their safety at off-campus demonstrations …,” the district said in a statement, adding that on Thursday it would provide students with “opportunities on campus for student expression.”
However, students from Garfield, Wilson, Esteban Torres, Roosevelt, and Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez high schools have remained steadfast — and are among those who planned to walk out on Tuesday, Feb. 11 — calling on each other to “fight for our communities and neighborhoods.”
“This is a peaceful protest,” student organizers have declared on Instagram, adding that, “we want to make sure our voices are heard in a respectful manner.”
Another walkout is expected on Feb. 20.
Leading up to Tuesday’s walkout, the Boyle Heights-based nonprofit InnerCity Struggle convened an online workshop Monday evening with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) senior policy counsel Amir Whitaker to inform students of their rights if they choose to walk out.
Whitaker noted that since students — under the law — are required to attend school, administrators can take corrective action against them for missing class, even if they do so to participate in a political protest.
But, in an important distinction, Whitaker said a school cannot punish students for missing class to engage in political protest more harshly than it does for skipping school for any other purpose. For example, a student can serve detention for being away from school to attend the protest, if that is how the school typically deals with unexcused absences, according to the ACLU’s “My School My Rights” website.
Additionally, students should not be suspended for unexcused absences, Whitaker said, citing California’s education code. Students, however, can be considered truant if they are “absent from school without a valid excuse three full days in one school year.” Students can be punished for truancy in different ways, as outlined in the ACLU guide.
“Truancy has nothing to do with a walkout, unless your walking out could make you truant under your school rules,” Whitaker said.
Walkouts on the Eastside began last Tuesday, with students from Garfield marching toward Roosevelt to pick up their fellow peers on their way to Los Angeles City Hall. Before heading downtown, protesters also stopped by Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez, where students reported the gates being locked. Video footage shows a student from Mendez jumping the fence to join the walkout.
The district, in a 2021 bulletin, states that California law allows school site administrators to establish “reasonable parameters for those students who wish to exercise their free speech rights on campus or during the school day.”
Administrators, according to the bulletin, “can impose restrictions on the time, place, and manner of the speech, or activity in order to maintain a safe and peaceful campus.”
The bulletin notes that students who leave school during a demonstration will be directed to return to the campus or classroom.
“A student’s refusal to adhere to this directive may result in disciplinary action against that student. Once students are off campus, school site administrators do not have a legal obligation to protect the safety and welfare of the students,” according to the bulletin.
The bulletin also outlines that, if necessary, a school administrator can initiate a lockdown “to ensure the safety and welfare of students.”
Peter Eliasberg, a First Amendment Rights attorney at the ACLU of Southern California, told Boyle Heights Beat that schools can establish parameters “as long as they’re even-handed about it.”
“You can’t treat students who are leaving school to engage in First Amendment activity worse than you would treat students who are leaving campus for non-First Amendment activity,” Eliasberg said.
“They can’t say, ‘Oh, that kid walked off campus to go to a rally protesting Trump’s immigration policies, and we want to punish that super harshly. But, if a kid just ditches because he wants to ditch, we’re going to publish them less harshly.’ That, they can’t do,” he added.
In their guide, the ACLU advises students to notify their parents and the district superintendent’s office if the school administration threatens to lock students in their school to prevent lockouts. Locking exits to the school, the ACLU said, can pose health and safety concerns for students and staff.
InnerCity Struggle is also helping guide students on how to interact with police during protests.
Ruby Rivera, senior director of community organizing at InnerCity Struggle, said they are seeking ways to support “without getting in the way of students.”
Students have sought adult allies who can serve as police liaisons and who can support crowd control during protests, she said.
Rivera said they want to provide community-based safety, “so that students can continue to comfortably and safely exercise their voice, their anger, and their frustration.”