Palo Alto students from across grade levels and schools took to the streets in recent weeks, joining a wave of nationwide youth-led protests in light of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Students gathered in the senior quad on Friday, Jan. 30, to begin a march from Gunn to El Camino Real, holding signs and chanting phrases such as “Melt the ICE!” Four days later, on Feb. 3, students across PAUSD schools — Gunn, Jane Lathrop Stanford, Fletcher, Greene, Palo Alto Middle College and Paly — gathered on California Avenue after unforeseen circumstances prevented them from realizing the original plan of meeting at Paly and progressing to the district office.

Student organization

Junior Kalissa Huang and sophomore Noa Zeitlin (who is also a reporter for The Oracle) led the first walkout, promoting it largely through Instagram on their account @walkoutatgunn. The students amassed hundreds of followers in just days. Friday’s protest stemmed from a nationwide movement protesting ICE’s actions, referred to across social media as a “day of strike.” Students ended up gathering around the Tesla dealership and surrounding areas with signs and chants. Other students drove by in their cars and honked in support of their peers as the protesters cheered. Before the protest, Huang and Zeitlin reached out to Assistant Principal Kat Catalano in order to gain more information as well as go over legal regulations regarding student demonstrations.

Tuesday’s walkout, however, was Bay Area-centric and included five other PAUSD schools. While it was organized by members of Gunn’s Latinos Unidos Club and Black Student Union, it was not an official club event. Spearheaded by juniors Sophia Chakos-Mitchell and Keylee Villanueva Dominguez, along with seniors Khloe Hisatomi, Megumi Estrada and Natalia Martinez, their goal was to show support specifically for Latino and immigrant communities rather than protest ICE and the Trump administration. Chakos-Mitchell helped organize the logistics and communication. The intention was to advocate for the district to release a statement or letter to marginalized communities assuring them of their support, similar to previous district protest responses, according to Chakos-Mitchell. However, as of Feb. 4, there has not been an official publicized statement from PAUSD. She mentioned that while she believes the district has made some good choices and is doing a better job than many nearby districts, students are advocating for a more empathetic response.

“(I would urge people to) listen to marginalized groups when they are telling you of their experiences,” she said. “Just because it’s something that you haven’t heard of (or) something that you’re not aware (of) doesn’t mean it’s not true.”

District involvement and safety

District staff are prohibited from supporting any political agenda during working hours, according to PAUSD board policies that cite California Education Code sections 7050-7057. Essentially, staff are not allowed to officially endorse protests or personally encourage students to attend during working hours. Although PAUSD cannot advertise or label a protest as a district-sanctioned event, they have the power to advocate for safety, which they have taken measures to promote.

“Our administration team wants to support student efforts,” Catalano said. “We also sent some information out through ParentSquare that was posted yesterday afternoon (Jan. 30), just to inform the community.”

The ParentSquare post detailed the walkout plans, and read that the administration’s priorities are “student safety, respectful learning environments and clear expectations,” stating that instruction would. continue regardless of the walkout.

According to Title IX Coordinator and Compliance Officer Robert Andrade and Gunn administration, safety is the largest priority of district staff. However, once students step off campus to protest, they. are no longer the responsibility of the district. Andrade noted that the majority of students participating in the Jan. 30 event followed safety protocols and remained on sidewalks. Some students, however, instead stood in the road or filled a vehicle above capacity — prompting safety concerns.

“At that point, you’ve taken (the safety) out of the district’s hands,” Andrade said. “Safety always begins when you come to school and are at school. Safety ends once you leave school and are off of school property.”

Challenges and concerns

Although the protest drew large turnouts, the organizers of the first and second protests faced challenges coordinating their efforts. Friday’s protest followed the model of a larger, nationally planned strike day that schools across the country took part in. The organizers of the Feb. 3 protest encouraged students to participate in the Jan. 30 strike — including avoiding purchases, skipping school or work and staying at home — as opposed to attending the Jan. 30 walkout. The leaders’ differences in planning led to contrasting messages on social media, generating uncertainty about which of the events should be attended.

Latino students were at the forefront of leading the Feb. 3 walkout, according to Hisatomi. She believed it was vital they take that role because of the disproportionate targeting of the Latino demographic by ICE.

“We wanted (Tuesday’s protest) to be hosted by Latinos to be able to personally show and shed light on our community’s issues,” she said. “A lot of people didn’t understand why we thought that it should be hosted by Latinos, and it was a major problem at the beginning, but at the same time, we have to do what we want to do, and if people want to support us or not, that’s their decision.”

Another concern was the lack of knowledge regarding students’ whereabouts as a result of attendance discrepancies. Students are allowed one school day of excused absence to participate in civic engagement events, according to California Senate Bill 955. To receive an excused absence, students were required to fill out forms detailing their absence at least 24 hours in advance. However, many did not submit the form, causing a high volume of unexcused absences and leaving a significant number of students unaccounted for.

“The turnout was a good deal higher than the number of forms that we had turned in for excused absences,” Catalano said.

Student perspectives

Through both the Feb. 3 and Jan. 30 walkouts, students gained confidence in the state of youth activism and the power of their voices. Students from each middle school in PAUSD also participated, demonstrating a level of involvement that reflected the extent to which national events affected adolescents. JLS eighth grader Rhea Page feels that, regardless of age, she and her peers have a duty to speak up and believes that spreading awareness is a necessity even when young.

“I showed up here because I want to support those who can’t speak out for this, and for those who are getting deported unfairly,” Page said. “It doesn’t matter who’s who (or) what grade you are: We’re just all here together to support it.”

Dominguez encourages students to continue to participate in political activism locally, especially regarding current events and not just in response to national movements.

“We want to do more walkouts, the bigger the better, so that there are more people,” she said. “We don’t want to do it for the trend or just a specific day.”

Jan. 30 protest attendee senior Arjun Sinha thinks that it is important for students to vocalize their opinions on issues they care about to help make change and mobilize awareness.

“We have to come out and show that we really care about what’s going on in our country,” he said. “We really want to stop all of the hate and the deportation of immigrants who come to this country looking for opportunities. We’ve got to change that.”

Community support

While the Jan. 30 and Feb. 3 protests were both student-led, they were not entirely student-populated. At both the Jan. 30 and Feb. 3 walkouts, adult volunteers were present at the events to ensure both safety and support. Through a network of online news, emails and various forms of communication, the word spread to adults in the community.

Former Youth Community Service director and current Rotary Club of Palo Alto member Leif Erickson attended the Jan. 30 walkout at Gunn after attending the one at Paly. He did so to make sure students were safely crossing the streets they were protesting on during the event.

“The only reason I’m here is to keep students safe,” he said. “I think it’s a very positive development, and the fact that it’s happening not just at one school but all over the country shows great solidarity.”

Indivisible Palo Alto Plus, a local activist organization promoting democratic values, brought eight members to Tuesday’s California Ave. protest. These peacekeepers, IPA+ member Steve Wagman explained, went through training and were prepared for contingency plans in the event of the protest going wrong.

“We’re out here to make sure that no counter-protesters come and start arguing with the protesters,” he said. “I think it’s great everybody’s yelling and making people honk and having a good time and keeping people aware.”

Next steps

The community continues to look ahead for next steps while holding space for grief and remembrance. Freshman Kayla Barile, who attended the Friday protest, is the daughter of an immigrant and was taken aback by events on the news regarding ICE arrests, describing them as “unjust and unlawful.”

“It honestly makes me feel a little bit sad that we have to miss our school to come here and protest,” she said. “But it’s kind of empowering that everyone’s coming out here to show up.”

According to a Feb. 2 Schoology post from Assistant Principal Erik Olah, Board Policy 1445: “Response to Immigration Enforcement” is on the agenda for consideration at the Feb. 10 school board meeting. Chakos-Mitchell highlights that there are still gaps that must be addressed, leading her to personally email the district to advocate for the upcoming policy to include mental health and emotional support for students in these demographics.

“I saw that they had an ICE policy in place, and that’s good (because) that can give students a little bit of reassurance,” she said. “But a lot of it also is making sure that emotionally, students know that the school and the district are there for them.”

According to Chakos-Mitchell, changes to the plans for the Feb. 3 protest prevented the event from achieving its original goal: going to the district office and pushing PAUSD to implement specific policies and actions. Still, she mentions that the high volume of student support made an impact, which led to an email back from the district and drew the attention of district officials, including Superintendent Don Austin. She continues to advocate for students to stand up against inequalities.

“It’s important to show people that you do care and it’s important to show up for communities that you’re not a part of,” she said. “We should always be supporting our underrepresented communities as much as we possibly can and it doesn’t matter if other people aren’t following in our footsteps. It matters that we’re doing what’s right.”

This emotion and community connection are what drive action. Looking to the future, sophomore Edgar Cruz believes that political activism should be used as a catalyst to create changes that combat perceived injustices.

“We’re doing a peaceful protest so we can make it right and help the community,” he said. “(ICE is) going to start terrorizing things, breaking things, getting people and taking them. We want our community to be a safe place where people won’t be scared.”