The poster on the left indicates there are protests going on in Baltimore County Public Schools Tomorrow.
With test scores and academic achievement in Maryland are trending downward, parents suddenly see stories about public school students in the state and across the country planning massive walkouts on Friday, February 6th to protest the operations of ICE in Maryland. Many wonder why this is being allowed and if it is legal.
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While Maryland doesn't have a law that allows students the right to leave class to protest without parental permission, students are generally allowed, under the 1st Amendment, to express their political opinions. However, schools can mark students as having an "unexcused absence" if they leave to attend a protest.
Even student first amendment rights have a limit. According to the court decision Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), students can express political opinions as long as they are not a disrupt school operations. Walking out of school is designated a disruption, so schools can impose consequences. The ACLU states that walking out of school is considered a disruption and schools can punish students for doing so even if the walkout is peaceful.
School districts can make that choice to discipline students for such an activity or not. So, depending on which school system your child is in, that decision will be made by local authorities. Schools can ban walking out for a protest as long as the policy is the same for all such activities.
Many parents wonder if their permission is required for a child to walk out to protest. It is not. A parent cannot protect their child from consequences of a walkout even if the parent gave permission.
Many ask, what is the legal liability if a child is hurt or killed during an unsanctioned walk out from a school?
Schools have what is called a "legal duty of supervision" for students attending their school. This means a school/district could be liable if a child is hurt or killed during one of these events. If a lawsuit is filed in such and instance, these questions would be asked:
- Did the school take reasonable steps to monitor students?
- Did the staff know or should they have known a walkout was happening?
- Did the school/district respond in a way which is consistent with safety conditions?
There are some gray areas. Schools have what is called "governmental immunity." That means that in order for the school to be liable, it must be shown that they were "grossly negligent, which means their supervision was a "serious failure." Also, the school would have to have violated a "clear, mandatory, safety rule."
If the school promotes or supervises the protest by allowing it, organizing it, or sending staff to supervise it, then they are taking on responsibility. That doesn't necessarily mean that they are automatically liable, but they could be.
Responsibility doesn't change much if the students leave school property. However, if something happens to a student and they are seriously hurt during the activity, a suit could allege that schools didn't prevent the walkout, didn't provide staff to follow students, or ignored obviously dangerous situations.
Parents have other problems with these walkouts. Many are concerned that their children are being indoctrinated into leftist radicalism in classrooms. They are not interested in their child becoming a social activist. They actually want their children to learn reading, math, science, history, etc. Many teachers feel the same.
As one teacher said to me the other day, "I tell my students that if they know my political views, I have failed at my job." Sadly, there are many examples of teachers who think it absolutely IS their job to indoctrinate students. Here is a horrifying example in a PRE-SCHOOL:
Teachers are being taught to teach social activism in teacher education programs in many colleges. Then, when they become teachers, the union and other groups promote them being activist. Here are some links.
Notice the answers and non-answers.
NEA EdJustice | NEA - As usual, the Communist, Anti-American Teachers' Unions lead the way in producing activist teachers instead of teachers who can competently teach content.
Here's one from BOTH NEA and AFT:
TURN -
And here is a lecture from Harvard University - Remember, this is where many of our school "leadership" people come from:
How to Educate for Social Action | Harvard Graduate School of Education
Home ( Black Lives Matters in Schools)
Teaching People's History | The Zinn Education Project - Mainly focuses on teaching incorrect, skewed history
Teacher Activism Training with Examples - Latest
As for Maryland, the districts where protests are possible (or happened) are Montgomery County:
‘Everyone’s living in fear’: Students at Bethesda high school walk out to protest ICE - WTOP News
There are rumors of walk outs in other counties. Here is a post from a parent from a Baltimore County parent group on Facebook:
State Delegate Nino Mangione posted on FB about possible walkouts in Baltimore County:
We posted pictures of the posters advertising these walkouts at the top of this article. A scan of the QR code on one of the posters produced a sign-up form where you can put your email and name, and which grade you are in (9,10,11,12) :
ICE protests continue as US students stage school walkouts
Parents, talk to your kids. Make sure you are aware of what is going on in your child's school and school district. Talk to administrators at every level and let them know your opinions and concerns about these walkouts.
We emailed the Talbot County Public Schools asking if there were any walkouts planned for their schools on Friday. They are not aware of any walkouts in any of the schools.
