Canyon High School and Sierra Vista Junior High School students walked out of their campuses on Tuesday, Feb. 10 to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). After leaving school, students made their way to the intersection of Soledad Canyon Road and Whites Canyon Road where they held signs with various messages and waved flags representing Latin America.
This isn't Canyon’s first rodeo either. There was previously a student-led anti-ICE protest on Wednesday, Jan. 28 after school at the corner of Whites Canyon Road and Nadal Street with a significantly smaller crowd in comparison.
Students at Canyon High aren’t the only ones that have demonstrated. In the days prior to Canyon’s demonstration in January, Valencia High School students took over the corner of Dickason Drive and Smyth Drive.
Inspired by these protests and other events, at least 200 students from Golden Valley High School walked two miles up to the Target on Golden Valley Road on Feb. 4, Hart High students gathered a large crowd on Lyons Avenue Feb. 6, and West Ranch High School students had a demonstration that had almost 130 students who walked out with megaphones to make sure their message would be heard off The Old Road and Valencia Boulevard. Additionally, Saugus High School students walked out on Feb. 10 during their sixth period to Central Park.
Eventually, a protest consisting of students from across the district was organized on Feb. 21 on the corner of Valencia Boulevard and McBean Parkway. Dozens of students that attend schools in the William S. Hart Union High School District continued speaking out.
The Hart District issued a statement clarifying that the district had nothing to do with the protest or its planning. They stated, “The district is aware of a flyer with our school logos circulating on social media advertising a ‘district wide’ protest on Saturday, February 21. The Hart District supports civic engagement and peaceful student expression; however, this event is not a district or school-sponsored event and will not be supervised by the Hart District.”
Likewise, the Canyon High protest on Feb. 10 was not a school-sanctioned event, nor was it organized by any campus clubs or organizations. The same applies to almost all the schools across the district. It was spread through word of mouth on campus and on social media.
Canyon administration released a notice to families in regards to the student walkout, communicating that “schools within the William S. Hart Union High School District do not support student walkouts, and these are not school-sanctioned events. Students were not permitted to leave campus during the school day and did so without school authorization.”
It was also stated, “We understand that students have the right to peaceful expression and to share their message respectfully on campus during non-instructional time. […] We encourage families to speak with their students about the importance of remaining on campus during the school day and following school policies. Walkouts are not an excused absence."
Questions regarding absences raised significantly since the rise in student walkouts, especially on Friday, Jan. 30, when there was a call for a “National Shutdown: No Work. No School. No Shopping,” and many students across the district stayed home. Absences for walkouts and protests do not fall under the legal list of excuses (such as illnesses, jury duty, quarantine, etc).
However, according to the LAist, California legislation “allows middle and high school students one excused absence per school year for a civic or political event. Students must notify the school in advance of the absence. School administrators may grant more than one excused absence related to protests, but they are not required to do so.”
Because of these and other circumstances, some students did not walk out. An anonymous student commented, “I didn’t do the walk out because I couldn’t miss class. Matter of fact, I think it was a bigger protest that I stayed in school. As a first generation child from immigrant parents, they gave up their whole life for me to study. I am so heavily involved on campus that I break those ideals that our government has on immigrants.”
However, that doesn't mean that some did not agree with the cause. Canyon students who participated in the protests demonstrated that they feel power in using their voices and standing up for the issues affecting their communities. One student explained, “Protests allow our voices to be heard. Seeing teenagers protesting out on the streets really makes people take a step back and realize the gravity of the situation. Adults can say so much, but at the end of the day, it’s our futures. The worst that can happen is nothing, but the best that can happen is that we make a change.”
Anti-ICE protests were and are still happening across the country. As it currently stands, there is still a lot of division and ongoing debates surrounding current immigration policies and human rights.
