Hays CISD places new rules on student protests, including reinstituting Saturday detention
Hays CISD students walk out to protest ICE
Students at several Central Texas schools, including in Hays CISD, walked out of class and off campus Monday to protest ICE operations. FOX 7 Austin's Jenna King has more.
HAYS COUNTY, Texas - Hays CISD is implementing new policies regarding student protests following walkouts at five of its campuses Monday.
The district says that it is hearing reports of continued potential walkouts at additional schools later in the week.
PREVIOUS REPORTING: Hundreds of Hays CISD students leave campus to protest: district
What we know:
In a letter to Hays CISD families, Superintendent Dr. Eric Wright outlined the new policies while acknowledging that students do have their First Amendment right to participate.
The new policies are:
- Parents wishing to allow their children to participate in a protest must come to campus in person to sign their child out of school and leave school property.
- Students who have not been signed out by their parents will receive unexcused absences and will be considered truant.
- Hays CISD is reinstituting Saturday detention school for truant students; they will also lose their exemption status for final exams.
- Student discipline related to leaving class/school without permission will be stacked, meaning each refusal of a teacher or campus adminstrator's directive to return to class will count as a separate violation of the student code of conduct and a separate offense.
The new policies went into effect immediately, according to Wright.
What they're saying:
"These walkouts are a strain on the resources of the school district and community law enforcement agencies – neither of which has any control over what happens with national immigration policy. Future walkouts would not be productive and only hurt our students’ self-interests. At a certain point, the original protest messages get lost in what begins to appear as one-upmanship about which campus can out protest the other. Further, many also lose the messages in what may start to appear to be kids simply looking for excuses to skip school," Wright said in the statement.
Read the full statement below:
Hundreds of Hays CISD students walked out Monday
The backstory:
Hundreds of Hays CISD students from five different schools walked out of their classes and off campus to protest ICE operations on Monday afternoon.
Hays CISD says that several hundred students from five campuses walked out as part of the protests. The students were from:
- Hays High School
- Live Oak Academy High School
- Johnson High School
- Lehman High School
- Barton Middle School
According to the district, that is about five to 15% of the student population at each school on average, but the exact number of students that walked out is currently being calculated.
Wright also addressed incidents at a couple of protests in Kyle and Buda.
"Additionally, a relatively few number of students placed themselves in positions of danger and made horrible choices as part of the protests yesterday. Their behavior has overshadowed any messages that the other protesting students might have tried to convey," said Wright in his statement.
Kyle police arrest 2 juveniles at walkout protest
The Kyle Police Department shared Monday that about 500 of those students had gone to downtown Kyle during their walkout.
Officers on scene had noticed a minor in possession of alcohol, which resulted in the arrests.
One juvenile was charged with assault on a public servant, resisting arrest, interfering with public duties, consumption, and possession of alcohol by a minor.
The other juvenile was charged with resisting arrest and interfering with public duties. Additional charges may be forthcoming.
KPD says that the arrests were unrelated to the walkout.
Buda police investigating altercation between man, students
Buda police are investigating an altercation between an adult man and students at a protest near Johnson High School.
Video of the incident circulated on social media and shows the adult confronting a girl on the sidewalk, then the confrontation escalating into physical contact and a group of students swarming the man.
READ MORE: Law enforcement investigating incident at Buda student protest
Buda police say they have identified the primary parties involved and no arrests have been made.
Buda mayor Lee Urbanovsky said Tuesday that Buda police have gotten a statement from the man and are working with Hays CISD to collect witness statements and video evidence from students.
Teacher placed on leave for displaying protest signs on campus
Dig deeper:
In the same letter, Superintendent Wright shared that a teacher was placed on administrative leave for a photo of him displaying a protest sign with profanity while on a campus.
Wright says the teacher will not be returning to work at Hays CISD.
Wright did not disclose which campus the photo was taken at or which campus the teacher worked at.
"As we explained in our statement [Monday], the school district belongs to everyone and we do not, as an entity or as employees, use taxpayer time and resources to engage in political activity," wrote Wright.
The Source: Information in this report comes from Hays CISD and previous reporting by FOX 7 Austin