The walkouts by Austin ISD students have caught the attention of state leaders who say the district hasn’t done enough to keep students in the classroom.
AUSTIN, Texas — Students at multiple Austin ISD schools walked out of class during the school day once again on Friday to protest.
Students from three Austin high schools walked out around 1:30 p.m. and then marched to Austin City Hall.
When these walkouts started, students said they were all about immigration enforcement operations, but it has since expanded, with many on Friday saying they’re frustrated with how the state has responded to their walkouts.
AISD has faced scrutiny from Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, AG Ken Paxton and the TEA over how it has handled the student walkouts. Last week, Austin ISD responded to an investigation from the Texas Attorney General’s office over student protests. District officials said AISD did not support, endorse, sanction or encourage walkouts protesting immigration enforcement.
Earlier this month, AG Ken Paxton requested information from AISD, accusing it of facilitating the protests.
Kenneth Walker, the General Counsel for AISD, said the suggestion that AISD assisted students during the demonstration is “misplaced,” and the district agrees that the ideal place for students during instructional hours is in school.
Walker went on to say, “short of physically restraining students, we cannot stop them from leaving campus.” Students who walked out face unexcused absences, but Walker said they will not face a more severe disciplinary consequence for the walkouts because that would suggest the district is doing so based on the reason for their protest.
Walker said Texas law does not allow districts to use “any degree of force to compel school attendance,” instead, that is what truancy laws are for. However, those are for “repeated failure to attend school,” and since the walkouts occurred on a single school day, they are not sufficient to warrant a truancy referral.
In Texas, school districts are required to initiate truancy proceedings if a student has unexcused absences for 10 or more days, or for part of a day, in 6 months. Districts can choose to begin those proceedings if a student has unexcused absences for 3 or more days, or for part of a day, in 4 weeks.
“I am not aware of any legal basis at this juncture to refer parents and students to be prosecuted for a single, unexcused absence,” Walker said.
He said the district did use “some fraction of its resources for student safety.”
“AISD is hard-pressed to simply abandon this responsibility when students decide to leave campus, especially in cases where there are hundreds of students walking out of schools and traveling long distances across the city by themselves,” Walker wrote. “Individuals in our community responsible for public safety have a moral (arguably civic) duty to offer some level of security to them, notwithstanding the basis of their walkout.”
Walker also pointed out that similar walkouts happened at districts across the state, but that AISD is the only district the attorney general has announced it will investigate.
“Despite being singled out, we stand firm that we have not engaged in any practice inconsistent with the parameters in which we are permitted to engage with our students,” Walker said.
Last Friday, Austin ISD Superintendent Matias Segura announced new rules for protests, after the Texas Education Agency (TEA) issued new guidance to districts. The TEA said students, teachers or school districts who participate in what it called “inappropriate political activism” could see students being marked absent and districts losing state funding, educators under investigation and face discipline, including losing their teaching license and expanded state oversight, such as replacing the elected school board with a board of managers.
KVUE reached out to the TEA on Friday to ask how many complaints it had received about walkouts, but we have not heard back. Last week, the agency told KVUE it had received “multiple complaints regarding multiple districts” and was investigating them.
“They can make all these threats, but they’re just all taunting. They’re not going actually to implement this,” one student told KVUE. “We just want to show them that we are stronger and united. We do not support them taking away our rights and threatening our schools, teachers, and families. We are just sick of that.”
In a video posted online this week, AISD leaders commended students for their civic engagement but said the repeated walkouts are creating a disruption to the school day.
“We’ve seen some historic events happen across our country recently, and more so in our own community. We’ve seen many of you find your own voices,” the district said. “Seeing our students engage with the world makes us incredibly proud.”
However, district leaders said the frequent nature of the anti-ICE protests is creating issues and interfering with important instruction in the classroom.
“The number and frequency of these demonstrations is starting to cause a real disruption to our school day,” district officials said.
District leaders said to be “real change agents for the future,” students need to focus on their education and build their advocacy skills to get “to that next level.”
“Ultimately, passion may get your voice heard, but education is what gives your voice its power and influence,” district leaders said. “We get your passion, and we are here to support you as you continue developing your voice and finding ways to influence policy. For now, the best place to get that work started is inside our classrooms, where you can build skills and knowledge for your future.”
Students are also upset with district leaders, who they say should not comply with the demands of the Governor and state leaders.
“We don’t want them to comply, because we want the freedom of education, and we do not want people to be afraid to speak out,” one student said.
Students said they have no intention of stopping the walkouts.
“We’re going to keep doing this until the system changes or until people start listening,” one student told KVUE.