The Lee County School Board and district superintendent on Tuesday addressed last week’s student walkout in protest of U.S.Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions
Approximately 3,400 students districtwide participated in the ICE protest.
Lee County School Board Chair Armor Persons said students at 17 schools took part with four deemed a problem.
Those four were North Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Mariner and Ida Baker high schools.
He said the Supreme Court has ruled that students may protest during school hours.
“That is the law. That is the ruling. It also gives us the ability to put some guardrails on there – time and place of when they can do it,” Persons said, citing area such as a courtyard away from the school, or on the football field. “It had to be during non-instructional times.”
Students at those four schools did not follow the guidelines and so are subject to district discipline.
“The Supreme Court said we are able to discipline students that don’t do that, but we have to go by the exact code,” Persons said. “We can’t let students break the student code of conduct.”
The district cannot overlook such actions such as students shouting vulgarities, not listening to administrators, blocking a hallway, or jumping the campus fence.
“You are allowed to protest, but you have to stay within the parameters,” Persons said.
Board member Melisa Giovannelli said the district will not tolerate behavior that interferes with instruction and safety of others. She encouraged parents to have open conversations at home about the importance of responsibility, freedom of speech, respecting others and law and order.
“This was a teaching moment. I think there are opportunities for improvement at the schools where things out of control. I think it is important that we respect each other even if our ideologies are different,” Giovannelli said.
Grace and patience through the investigation of what happened was asked of the community by Board member Vanessa Chaviano.
“You are seeing snapshots from one point of view. You have to step back, and you have to ask questions,” she said. “There is always so much more to the story – his, hers, and the truth. We have to get to the truth and answer the questions – making sure we are doing our job to the fullest extent.”
Chaviano said to run through video and information in 5 minutes is not fair to staff and the administration.
“You want to make sure it is done right because you don’t want to go back and say I am sorry. There is a process and there are rules,” she said.
Before the community spoke, District Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin addressed the public and board.
“Approximately 3,400 of our district’s 100,000 students at 14 out of 84 schools participated in a protest related to our nation’s immigration policy. That is fewer than 4% of our students and 17% of the district’s schools that were involved,” she said. “While we recognize students’ constitutional rights to free expression, our schools exist for one primary purpose: education. The School District of Lee County remains focused on student and staff member safety, teaching and learning. Our responsibility is to ensure that every single student can attend school in an environment that is orderly, respectful and free from distraction and disruption.”
Carlin said any student who violates district standards has been, or will be, disciplined in accordance with the student code of conduct.
Some of the parents who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting said they were not concerned about the protest, but rather the lack of parental notification as to what was taking place – that parents should not be not the last to know what is going on e at their child’s school.
Another parent asked the same question, as the Department of Education warned districts on Feb. 3 that an anticipated walkout could occur. Again, the speaker said parents rely on real time communication from the district and that did not happen.
Community weigh in
Madelon Stewart, one of the leaders of the non-partisan Purple Group Lee County, Florida, said she thinks it is fantastic that students know enough about what constitutes participation in a democracy to take their stand and protest ICE and ICE entry into schools. She said it may not have been the most thoughtful way to have a protest, but it’s obviously a teachable moment.
“But the teachers can’t teach about it because they are not supposed to discuss anything to harm students’ innocence,” Stewart said.
She said students are terrified of ICE – they know what is going on in the world. Students should be encouraged to do everything they can – write letters, protest outside of school hours, she added.
“What students are doing is what being a part of a democracy means. In that regard it is fantastic,” she said.
Stewart said how in the world is allowing ICE to come in and take kids, even if they have a warrant, a full executed legal warrant, providing an environment conducive to learning and free from distraction.
“There has to be a place where students feel safe,” she said. “What may not be obvious is the disruption that it causes to the children and students themselves because of the fear of it happening to themselves, neighbors and friends. This is everywhere and it’s very frightening and unsettling and I don’t know how kids can learn to their fullest potential with the fear in the background. The fact that they wanted to speak up to something that is very important.”
A retired high school social studies teacher of many years said that when protests were held when he taught, principals’ primary goal was for the safety of students and making sure everyone’s rights were respected.
“There were some moments where students wanted to do a protest,” Mike Andoscia told The Breeze, adding that often times the students asked the principal and scheduled it towards the end of the day. “The principals never said, no you can’t do it. Instead, the principals called in the team and said, ‘How can we make sure the students are safe and rights protected.’ It was exactly the appropriate way to do it.”
When he worked at Lehigh Senior High School the principal sat down with the social studies department to advise. He said they talked about balancing rights.
“They did a really good job. The principals did a good job of balancing those ethical needs,” Andoscia said.
He questions how the school district is going to discipline anyone that disrupts instructional time.
Although he cannot speak to the protest that was just held, he said from his time in the classroom, teachers did not plan them.
“They were initiatives taken on by the students. Students are capable of independent thought at the high school level. These are students that have something to say and the only way of being heard was to protest,” Andoscia said.
He said he does not understand the emphasis on instructional time.
“How much instructional time do we lose every year to active shooter drills? We have to have those active shooter drills because we have a Second Amendment right. We also have a First Amendment right. What are we willing to sacrifice to make sure our First Amendment is respected? We are really selective about protection of instructional time,” Andoscia said.
He said he used the protests that were held while he was teaching as both a learning and teachable moment.
“We would have some great discussions about the protests and what went well, what didn’t go well, and how they felt. A good teacher can more than make up and compensate for the loss of instructional time by incorporating that into the instructional time. A good teacher can make up for that,” Andoscia said.
School officials share reactions on social media
After the protests took place, the district, Carlin and some board members took to Facebook to share what happened, and what procedures were taking place.
Carlin addressed staff members in her post-protest post.
“I also want to be clear that any staff member found to have participated in or encouraged these actions will be held accountable under district policy. Our expectation is simple: follow the rules and keep our campuses safe and focused on learning,” she wrote.
Jada Langford Fleming, a school board member who is running for re-election also posted comments on Facebook regarding the protests.
“Nearly every student in Lee County showed up to school this week, went to class, and focused on learning. I am proud of them for that,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, in a few schools, some students chose to engage in political protests during the school day.”
Her post continued that although she respects the right to hold personal views, “our students go to school to learn, not to be pulled in to political movements during instructional time.”
“Students do have constitutional rights, and those rights matter,” Langford Fleming wrote. “At the same time, those rights do not override school rules, classroom expectations, or the safety of others.”
She wrote that campuses remained secure during the protests, and there were no reports of injuries, vandalism, or property damage, which she credited administrators, teachers and school resource officers who worked quickly to maintain order.
“Students who left class or disrupted instruction will face consequences under our Code of Conduct. That standard exists to protect every child who is trying to learn,” Langford Fleming wrote. “The same expectation applies to adults. Staff members are entrusted with leadership and influence. That trust must never be used to encourage or facilitate disruption during the school day. Those who breached that trust will be dealt with severely.”
She also stated that she is grateful for the educators who kept their focus on teaching, and those students who chose to stay engaged in the classroom.
“Our responsibility is clear. Protect students. Protect instruction. Keep our schools centered on academics and moving in the right direction,” Langford Fleming said.
Chaviano wrote that schools exist for one primary purpose, education, not as stages for political theater.
“The vast majority of our students came to school focused on their education and did the right thing. They should be applauded,” she wrote on Facebook. “Every student deserves classrooms that are safe, orderly, and free from disruption.”