On Monday, February 9, hundreds of Acton Boxborough Regional High School (ABRHS) students walked out of class in an anti-ICE protest. Students Zoe Kriveshko, Suravi Bhatia, Retal Said, and Izzy Kelly organized the event, supported by fellow student Divya Sharma. The event took about a week of planning. The organizers had created an Instagram account on January 31 following a walkout on Friday, Jan. 30 that had a small showing due to a lack of planning and outreach. The account currently has about 400 followers. The first walkout coincided with the National Shutdown, also known as ICE Out, whose organizers encouraged people across the country to stay home from work and school and refrain from spending money to show their opposition to the brutality of recent federal civil immigration enforcement actions and stand in solidarity with immigrant members of the community.
The student organizers were thorough in their planning. They researched their rights as guaranteed by the Massachusetts Constitution, the disciplinary consequences that might result from missing class outlined in the ABRHS Student Handbook, and the guidance from Governor Healey’s office on Schools’ Legal Obligations to Prevent and Address Hate and Bias Incidents. They encouraged participants to make signs to carry, and they created a behavior guide that instructed students to cause no disturbance inside the building, to be respectful of teachers and staff, and to observe the established principle of nonviolence for the event. They also arranged for staff from the Acton Police Department, including Monica Ricci, the newest School Resource Officer, to attend.
In email correspondence ahead of the event, Kriveshko, a sophomore, wrote, “There were 50 students who participated in the national walkout on the 30th, however it was not coordinated or publicized in advance so many people were unaware. We decided to plan a larger walkout inspired by the many walkouts happening across our country. I have been studying community organizing in history and with MLK [Martin Luther King, Jr.] Day. I am really happy about how it is bringing many students together in support of our classmates and friends who are afraid to stand up for themselves, especially in a time when we have been experiencing antisemitism, racism and anti-Muslim hate speech in our school halls.”
A few days before the event, the organizers posted an invitation to community members to attend and show their support, identifying an area separate from the student protestors where they could stand. Community members did attend, including state and local elected officials, clergy, and former school committee members. Reverend Christine Schrade-Keddy, of the West Acton Baptist Church, shared that she was out in support because it had seemed for a long time that most of the people gathering at standouts, marches and protests were older adults. “I’m glad to see that the folks coming out are now of all ages.”
When the invitation that had been posted to the Instagram account was shared more widely on a few community social media pages, there was a mixed reaction. Parents and other community members weighed in, including AB teachers. While teachers expressed pride in the students for their civic engagement, and most parents and community members also applauded the initiative of the students to stand up for what they believed to be right, a couple of current and former district parents criticized the planned disruption and called for discipline, including detention and even suspension for any student who missed class. One parent shared that it felt “like you all are playing fast and loose with my kid’s education, well-being and safety, and I don’t appreciate it.”
The students circled the high school twice with handmade signs and megaphones, occasionally chanting, while members of the school administration, including the high school principal and the district superintendent, stood in the circle driveway at the front entrance of the building. During the walk, members of the ABRHS staff and the APD were stationed around the perimeter of the school. The administration did not condone the walkout, nor could they shut it down, according to the organizers’ Instagram account, “unless it gets out of control and poses a danger to students or staff.” Superintendent Peter Light confirmed this by sharing, “Our role was limited to keeping the students safe, and allowing them to express their voices.” ABRHS Principal Joanie Dean sent out a letter to the school community later in the day, noting appreciation for “the overall respectful and orderly manner in which our students conducted themselves while exercising their rights.”
After the walk, a few people spoke and led chants. Zoe Kriveshko shared her speech with the Acton Exchange. She told the protesters, “Unless you are Native, every single one of you has your own immigration story somewhere in your family history. I am a second generation immigrant. My dad came here for a better life and I stand here with the privilege and opportunities I have because of the sacrifices made by his parents…Whether you come here to seek better or to escape worse you should be able to come to a place that supports you, not tries to eradicate you. No matter what your political views are, we should all be able to agree that no human deserves to be beaten and kidnapped and killed.”
Following the speeches, students returned immediately to class. The organizers, however, first walked over to the eighteen or so community members who had gathered, to thank them for coming out to support the event. “This is something that everyone in our community cares about, young and old,” declared Kriveshko.
