East Central ISD is defending its decision to discipline the students, saying it had to do with them leaving campus without permission and not the political message.
SAN ANTONIO — East Central ISD is responding to their decision to discipline about 30 students in their district.
The students left campus for a school walkout to protest ICE actions around the country.
The district says it wants to clarify the discipline is not because of the message or beliefs, but say it had to do with the students leaving campus without permission, creating safety concerns.
About 30 students walked out of class back on February 13.
Some of them were hoping they could appeal to the school board and signed up to speak during public comment at a board meeting last night.
However, since the comments didn’t apply to an item on the agenda, the board denied them the opportunity. At least one student called the discipline excessive.
“I feel like it was quite excessive,” one student said. “I feel like I would have been fine with just the three-day suspension… they did all this stuff about claiming they wanted us back in class, but then they put us out of class.”
In a statement, East Central ISD clarified their stance in a statement saying, “It is important to emphasize that discipline was based on students leaving instructional time without authorization, not on the viewpoint or message of any student.”
The district adds that there were students who remained off campus for an extended period of time, even up to a few hours in some cases.
In the statement, the district did not specifically say what the discipline included.