A seemingly impromptu anti-ICE demonstration took place on campus on January 30, resulting in damage to the student bathrooms, physical harm to some students, and disciplinary action.
While in the past, students intending to protest or demonstrate have informed the school administration beforehand, no such plans were made clear this time around.
“We’ve seen that people across the country are protesting or expressing their opinions about the subject, but there was no communication that it might happen on campus,” said Principal Bennett Wutkee.
Many students felt like the point of the protest was unclear.
“In my opinion I didn’t feel like there was really a political message, I just saw it as like a bunch of students who just wanted to get out of school,” said CHS sophomore Cameron Cheong.
Students felt the demonstration had little cohesion, including CHS senior Ben Chamie.
“I think they used the cover of a political message, but I did not participate so I have no strong say on whether their ideology matched that message or was purely for anarchist beliefs,” said Chamie.
Administration confiscated several phones from students who were attempting to film the demonstration. This raised concerns about potential First Amendment infringement.
“We’re just implementing the school district’s policy, so the ability to be able to record is not the same as protesting. If the kids want to protest, that’s fine, but it doesn’t involve the cell phone as part of the protest,” said Wutkee.
Some students ripped the lower quad boys’ bathroom sink out of the wall, while others threw trash cans. These students received disciplinary action, as some students were physically hurt during the event.
“They weren’t doing this in a peaceful way, and when we were giving them directions, they were choosing not to follow the directions. You’ve seen other peaceful demonstrations on our campus, this was nothing like that,” said Wutkee.
While most people agree on the chaos that ensued during this event, there are mixed reports on how the event was handled that day.
“They did not attempt to leave campus. They had every opportunity to leave campus, and they chose not to. They didn’t want to go to the place that we designated [for protest] but they never made any attempt to actually leave,” said Wutkee.
However, some students’ stories stand contrary to this statement, as a few noted that staff were blockading exits, not allowing students through.
“I saw them get pushed back around three times by the staff, but I’m not 100% sure,” said CHS sophomore Cameron Cheong.
Administration and faculty noted that students were allowed through, but only those who demonstrated an intent to protest.
“Any student that made their intentions clear was allowed to leave,” said Wutkee.
Mr. Yeung indicated that he was working by the back gate, where students were using the protest as cover to leave.
“I had to make sure that students were protesting here respectfully instead of trying to jump the fence to get off campus,” said Yeung.
Once students were returned to their classes after lunch, further actions were taken.
“There was a tardy sweep and then we also told teachers, if any kid says that they want to leave class for this purpose, they can come to the upper quad,” said Wutkee.
At the end of the day, Wutkee emailed students via StudentSquare about the events that took place.
“We appreciate the help of CHS teachers and staff in maintaining a safe environment for our school. We commend the vast majority of our students who behaved in a safe and respectful manner,” wrote Wutkee in the email.
