Hundreds of JoCo students walk out to protest ICE amid local wave: ‘Really proud’

Despite an anonymous threat to the school, students from a Johnson County high school decided to take a stand against immigration enforcement activity.

Hundreds of Shawnee Mission North High School students participated in a student-led walkout on Wednesday afternoon to protest U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement. Students walked along Johnson Drive for several blocks, holding handmade signs that bore pro-immigration messages and opposition to the federal agency.

Police officers blocked traffic and cars honked in support of the students as they walked down the busy street. Several students walked holding the Guatemalan, Cuban and American flags.

“I’m really proud of how many people showed up,” Shawnee Mission North Junior Anna Culley said. “That also made it much easier — that there are a lot of people that are passionate about it.”

“I just wish that this does something,” Culley said. “I wish that this helps someone, that it helps our school protect their students more.”

Shawnee Mission North’s student walkout comes at a time when several other schools and residents across the KC metro have protested against immigration enforcement activity.

“We acknowledge and respect our students’ First Amendment rights,” Shawnee Mission School District spokesperson Kristin Babcock said in a statement. “We recognize that students exercising their First Amendment rights can be an important part of the learning experience and gaining understanding of how to engage with their community. “

Students taking action

In Johnson County, students at Olathe East and Olathe North took similar action on Monday and last Thursday, respectively.

“While I wouldn’t have the number of students, we are aware that there have been hundreds of students across multiple schools who have participated in student-led walkouts related to current events involving immigration and federal agencies,” Olathe Public Schools spokesperson Erin Schulte told The Star in an email.

There isn’t a specific board policy addressing walkouts, but students have the constitutional right to participate in demonstrations, Schulte said.

Like Shawnee Mission North, Olathe’s protests were entirely student-led and not sponsored or organized by the schools.

However, the district encourages parents and guardians to educate their students about these activities, she said.

“In Olathe Public Schools, we value all of our students’ perspectives,” Schulte said in the email.

“Our school district’s highest priority is the safety and education of our students. As educators, we will continue to remain neutral and not take a position on the cause of a walkout.”

Beyond Johnson County, students in Wyandotte County and Liberty High School in the Northland have also spoken against immigration enforcement.

“We as a people are angry and we felt the need to be heard and to speak out,” said Kellyn Graham, a senior who helped organize the protest at Liberty High School.

Liberty students also spoke out after seeing discussions of an ICE facility potentially coming to the Kansas City area and hearing rumors of ICE agents allegedly going door-to-door in nearby Gladstone.

Student-led efforts shortly followed Kansas Citians joining nationwide protests in opposition to ICE and enforcement tactics, which sparked after ICE enforcement efforts in Minneapolis resulted in two deaths — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — as well as shootings in cities such as Chicago. Good was a former Kansas City resident.

Shawnee Mission North received threats

Despite being eager to show up and support her peers, Culley said that she was a bit nervous beforehand because “there was a threat of violence” sent to the school.

According to an email obtained by The Star, Shawnee Mission North Principal David Ewers reached out to parents before the protest to notify them that the school received “an anonymous report about a potential threat to this planned, off-campus student protest last night.”

“We want you to know that we take all potential threats, anonymous or otherwise, seriously,” Ewers said in the email. “We immediately looked into what was reported and have made local law enforcement agencies aware as well.”

During the protest, police officers blocked oncoming traffic as students crossed the streets and followed the group as they made their way up and down Johnson Drive.

“We will continue to remain vigilant, investigate what we’ve heard and we will continue to take necessary precautions to keep everyone safe on our campus,” Ewers said in the email.

Shawnee Mission North parent Ashley Lindemann said that she was pleased to see the police show up for the students and that she was proud of the students speaking out.

“I think it’s really valuable because kids are being impacted as much, if not more than anyone else,” she said. “Right now, there are kids coming home to empty houses and finding out that their parents have been detained and that’s a constant fear. “

“So I think it’s really incredible that they’re stepping up to support themselves, to support their peers and say this is not OK.”

See more photos from the protest