Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is demanding documents from the Austin Independent School District following allegations that the district facilitated a student protest against immigration enforcement agents.
According to Paxton, on January 30, 14 campuses in AISD walked out of their classrooms to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations—following the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
Reports have indicated that district personnel were aware of the walkouts, and some may have even helped facilitate students’ departure from campus.
On the same day as the walkouts, AISD Superintendent Matias Segura released a statement to the community, stating that he nor other district personnel are responsible for keeping students on campus. Segura added in the statement that the district encourages “families to talk with their children about the family’s expectations during these types of events.”
In response to hundreds of students leaving multiple campuses, Paxton is demanding that AISD hand over “information regarding policies related to allowing students to leave campus, excused absence policies, security protocols of Austin ISD, and internal communications regarding the situation.”
“Parents expect our public schools to educate and keep their kids safe during the school day, not encourage them to attend a protest field trip designed to villainize brave law enforcement officials protecting our country,” said Paxton. “These AISD officials are trying to impose their radical political agenda on the next generation by not only allowing them to skip class to protest lawful immigration enforcement activities, but worse yet—use tax dollars to do so. My office will investigate and work to put an immediate end to any unlawful conduct by the AISD superintendent and his staff.”
In addition to the walkouts in AISD, other districts—including Fort Worth ISD, Waco ISD, and Conroe ISD—reportedly had hundreds of students walk out, with some involving staff participation.
Following the walkouts, the Texas Education Agency released guidelines for school districts that stated that there would be consequences for inappropriate political activism during school hours. Consequences included:
- Students must be marked as absent and schools risk losing daily attendance funding if they allow or encourage students to walk out of class.
- Teachers that facilitate walk outs will be subject to investigation and sanction including licensure revocation.
- School systems that facilitate walkouts will be subject to investigation and sanction, including either the appointment of a monitor, conservator or board of managers.
Not only are walkouts disruptive to the learning environment of schools, but they can also be dangerous.
In Nebraska, a student involved in an anti-ICE protest outside a high school stepped in front of a car and was struck. She was transported to the hospital and is currently recovering.
However, this incident highlights the potential dangers of allowing minors to participate in reckless protests on school property and during instructional time.
The Office of the Attorney General has stated that it will review all requested documents to determine whether public funds were used to support the protests and whether any laws were violated.