The protest comes as state education officials are threatening to investigate districts that facilitate walkouts.
By Silas Allen
Dallas Morning News
https://www.dallasnews.com/
Chitose Suzuki / Staff Photographer
More than 150 students walked out of Forney and North Forney high schools Thursday to protest the ongoing immigration crackdown in American cities.
The protest was the latest in a series of walkouts in schools across Texas. It comes as state education officials are cracking down on school districts where such protests take place.
At Forney High School, roughly 100 students lined the sidewalk and median along Farm-to-Market Road 741, just north of their school. Some waved flags from Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the United States. Others held posterboard signs. One sign read “You can’t love our culture but hate our people.” Another read “Proud daughter of immigrants.”
A steady flow of drivers passed through the intersection where students stood, many honking and waving in support. Some student protesters drove back and forth along the stretch of road between the school and the protest site, waving American flags and shouting their support.
But not all passers-by were supportive: At one point, a driver in a pickup shouted a racial slur at students before pulling away from the intersection. In response, several students shouted “Jesus loves you!”
Standing atop a transformer on the side of the road and holding a bullhorn and an American flag, organizer Mia Sotelo led chants, shouted encouragement and tried to keep her classmates out of the street. Sotelo reminded her fellow protesters that everyone — immigrants and native-born Americans alike — have rights and dignity.
“We’re all children of God, every single one of us,” she said.
Logan Brown-Carrillo, another student protester, was standing in the median along FM 741, waving to cars as they passed by. Brown-Carrillo said he wants people to understand that immigrants have the same rights as everyone else, and they should be treated with respect.
“This is Estados Unidos,” he said, using the Spanish name for the United States. “We’re Unidos. We’re together. This is all of us.”
While students at Forney High School were protesting along the road in front of their school, others at North Forney High School held a similar demonstration along Falcon Way. Sotelo estimated that about 200 students walked out between the two high schools combined.
State education officials have threatened to crack down on school districts where students stage walkouts. In guidance issued Tuesday, Texas Education Agency officials warned district leaders that districts that facilitate walkouts could come under investigation, potentially resulting in a state takeover, teachers who are found to have encouraged walkouts could have their teaching certificates revoked, and districts where students walk out will lose daily attendance funding.
In a message sent to parents Wednesday, Forney ISD officials said they didn’t facilitate or condone the walkouts. School staff can’t physically prevent students from leaving campus, officials said, but they noted that students who skip class will be given unexcused absences.
They also noted that the district’s student handbook defines skipping class as a Level III offense. According to the student handbook, Level III offenses carry a range of possible punishments, including exclusion from extracurricular activities, detention or in-school suspension.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
