Following protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) across the nation, students in Brevard County are making their own plans for a school walkout this Friday, Feb. 6. Through the Instagram account @WestShore_ICE_Out, an unknown source shared an informational flyer organizing students in a walkout protest mirroring the plans of Satellite High School, Viera High School and Rockledge High School.

Senior Cassidy Corey, who has been distributing pins and stickers to support the cause, said the demonstration aims to show that “the future of the U.S. is not going to stand for this.”

“We’re not going to just sit back and watch while people get kidnapped off the streets and people get sent to places they’ve never been,” Corey said. “It’s really just a demonstration that we’re paying attention to the news, and we’re not happy about it.”

On Feb. 3, Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas released a memorandum to all district superintendents addressing “reports of organized student protest activity occurring during the school day.” The memo states that “any student whose actions are to the contrary should be appropriately disciplined” and that “districts have a responsibility to ensure that any protest activity does not interrupt instructional time, school operations and campus safety.”

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Memorandum from Florida Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas

“We don’t have a time on our campus between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. that’s not instructional time,” Assistant Principal Glenn Webb said. “With direction that has come from the state and from our superintendent, the consequences for disrupting have essentially been taken out of our hands.”

Brevard Superintendent Mark Rendell published a statement affirming that students who walk off campus property will receive disciplinary action as the school’s Code of Conduct regularly dictates.

“If a student’s been given a direction and they don’t follow it, that’s willful disobedience, which could potentially lead to suspension or other disciplinary consequences,” Assistant Principal Sarah Perry said. “If students decide to leave campus, they’re leaving campus without permission. That’s also a suspendable offense.”

Webb said students should consider creative alternatives that would allow them to express their views without disrupting instruction or risking punishment.

“Students can be very creative,” Webb said. “They could do throwbacks to armbands or something that is quiet and doesn’t disrupt the environment. My question is, what is the goal? Is the goal to raise awareness? Is the goal to persuade and try to draw people to your cause?”

Since the state has greater authority than the district or individual schools, school administrators must follow the state’s guidelines for discipline rather than case-by-case decision-making.

“On this campus with this issue, we’re not the decision makers,” Perry said. “Moving that message to a location that puts it in front of the decision makers is going to be more impactful than doing it here.”

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Screenshot from @WestShore_ICE_Out

By doing a walkout, Webb said the protest may create division in the student body.

“It causes people angst and draws a line between us and says, ‘You’re on my side, or you’re on the other side,’” Webb said. “What the students think is going to be more effective in affecting change is an individual decision that a student would have to make.”

The warnings have created difficult decisions for students. Corey said that while she feels the tension, the issue is too important to ignore.

“I do have a lot of college acceptances that I can’t let go,” Corey said. “My program that I want to go into is so small that getting any of these acceptances rescinded at all could mean I just don’t go to college. But sometimes we’re just gonna have to take that risk.”

On Jan. 30, a call for an economic blackout protest spanned the nation, urging employees to miss work, students to miss school and, primarily, for no one to purchase items from large businesses. Acknowledging this previous event, Corey said she’s confident many students will take the issue seriously rather than using it as an excuse to skip class.

“Seeing how many people are genuinely concerned and missed school [last] Friday because they were so concerned for the future of the entire nation sets some hope for me,” Corey said.

The heightened response from the state marks a shift from previous student walkouts at West Shore, including the 2018 protest following the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting and 2022 demonstrations against the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law. Webb said the change was a response to increased concerns about protesters’ safety.

“The climate of our country has shifted,” Webb said. “We see some of the things that have happened where people have been hurt, injured [in protest]. School is your safe place … where you all can come and be yourselves. Out there in the world, it’s not that way.”

“If the protest were different in this day and age, regardless of what the protest was, we would be seeing a similar message,” Webb said. “What if it were a pro-ICE thing where we’re going to break out of class and support ICE? I don’t think we’d want that protest to be able to happen on our campus either.”

Webb said he encouraged students to think about building something sustainable rather than creating a one-time event that could end in disciplinary action.

“If you do something with solidarity that’s impactful and doesn’t disrupt, that’s the foundation on which you can build and continue to grow something that is an even bigger movement,” Webb said. “Think about the potential that exists in that moment.”