Megan Willis

A group of students engaged in a peaceful walkout during the school day to protest recent actions of ICE.

On Feb. 20, a group of North students exited the building in a peaceful walkout, intending to protest the recent actions of ICE, or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Participating students left the building immediately following fourth period. 

Students decided to participate in the protest after seeing posts from an Instagram account organizing the walkout. The plan was to exit the building after fourth period, walk down the sidewalk on Red Gate Road, then return to school or leave for the day. 

Participants mainly chose to walk out to support those impacted by the recent actions of ICE. 

“I wanted to speak out for people who can’t and support communities who are suffering during this time,” said Jess Krywaruczenko, junior and walkout participant. 

Some students participated in the walkout before returning to the building while others left for the day entirely. Depending on their actions, consequences were issued. 

“I got a one hour detention,” said Krywaruczenko.

According to a student who wished to remain anonymous, students that did not return to the building had no consequence other than being marked with unexcused absences for the remaining periods. 

Consequences were not issued due to students participating in a protest; the issue was leaving the building during the school day. 

“The Constitution provides that you have a right to protest. It’s just that in the educational world, it can’t disrupt the learning process,” said Andrew Herrera, Dean of Students. 

According to the D303 student handbook, “For safety and security reasons, a prior written or oral consent of a student’s custodial parent/guardian is required before a student is released during school hours: (1) at any time before the regular dismissal time or at any time before school is otherwise officially closed, and/or (2) to any person other than a custodial parent/guardian.” Essentially, students cannot leave the building during school hours, which is what was being punished. 

“When we talked to [participating] students, we were clear that we were not punishing their protest,” said Herrera.

Students are able to protest if it is not interrupting the educational process or breaking school rules.

“They could have had a rally in the cafeteria, you could have worn an armband,” said Herrera, “There’s a lot of protests that we absolutely would never punish or give a consequence for.”

 Even with the consequences, multiple students have reported that participating in the walk out was worth it.