Beaverton, OR: Hundreds of students walk out to demand school district protect students from ICE
Beaverton, OR – On Monday, December 8, hundreds of students walked out of class at 10 a.m. in Beaverton School District (BSD) to demand the district take steps to protect students from ICE. This comes after months of ICE activity in Beaverton, including the targeting of school bus stops by ICE agents.
Protests in Beaverton are heating up around what the community describes as a lack of response on behalf of the school district to ensure the safety of students from ICE. Two weeks earlier, parents and students held a protest at the BSD administrative office, where they were kicked off the grounds by police.
One parent said students witnessed ICE activity the same day as the walkout, underscoring what a regular occurrence it has become. “The morning of the protest, there were students at a bus stop that watched someone get taken in the morning on the way to school,” said Evelyn Shoop, parent to three students in BSD, “The Beaverton School District has not acknowledged that there has been ICE presence at or around schools. What we want to see is that Beaverton has a coordinated response and that families feel seen and heard.”
Parents and community members have organized their own rapid response and migra watch groups to monitor places like school bus stops, with no assistance from the district.
Students from all over Beaverton, including middle school students, walked out of class, despite pushback from school administration.
Shoop states her son, a student at Cedar Park Middle School, participated in the walkout and went off school grounds to an area with more passersby to show their signs and protest to the larger community. They were told by the principal that if they left campus they needed permission from their parents and it would be an unexcused absence.
Despite this, they were later notified that they were suspended for the next day. Parents pushed back, the suspensions were dropped and the school admitted they were unclear in their communication.
“My message to them was not only was this unclear, and these students are being punished for walking out, they’re being told they are going to be punished for following their beliefs and that you’re not going to actually talk about community safety. You’re not going to talk about ICE and ICE impacts with them,” said Shoop.
The next day, parents and students attended a school board meeting. Public comment regarding ICE was emotional, and people demanded the district take action.
“Disappointment is not a sufficient word to express how many families and children in our district feel regarding the very little action and advocacy taken by Beaverton School District to ensure safety for our children and families,” said Araceli Brambila, a mother and nurse, “most of you on the board hold a doctorate degree. I am experiencing difficulty understanding how someone with a higher degree than me is able to be held to a much lower standard when it comes to advocating for safety for those they serve.”
Brambila began to detail demands such as a rapid response monitoring plan, prohibiting ICE from being on or surveilling school property, establishing easy methods for district families to contact the district if ICE is seen surveilling at a Beaverton school. She was cut off by a timer and told to send an email.
Despite a walkout of hundreds of students protesting a lack of response to ICE attacks, the agenda for the board meeting only had one item related to ICE. It was last on the agenda, and was a resolution reaffirming the boards commitment to supporting all families and children, regardless of immigration status. It was discussed at 10:45 p.m., after most of those in attendance had already gone home, due to the meeting occurring in the middle of the week on a school night.
There was no discussion of any actual action or plans to respond to parents and children’s demands.
Afterwards parents and students were not dissuaded. They continue to organize and push forward their demands, which are the following: an immediate town hall hosted by the district to hear from parents and students about ICE, a safety plan for when ICE agents are near the school or where students congregate, and the creation of a task force to carry out this safety plan.