California school board member in hot seat after students violated orders leaving campus to protest ICE
A California school board member is facing scrutiny after a confrontation with a school principal over students leaving class to engage in the national walkout protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last week.
According to Item 9.3 on the Pajaro Valley School Board’s agenda on Wednesday, "The Board will have a discussion and may take action to issue a Stay Away Letter to a Trustee with regard to entering the Pajaro Valley High School campus."
The item was prepared by the Office of the Superintendent. The letter did not specify which trustee was the subject of the discussion. The Pajaronian reported that the trustee is Gabe Medina.
The Board did not confirm that the letter being discussed is intended for Medina and provided no further specifics about why the action was requested in the agenda item nor in a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
MASSIVE STUDENT IMMIGRATION PROTEST TURNS VIOLENT IN DOWNTOWN LA, DISPERSAL ORDER ISSUED: POLICE
Medina said in an Instagram video that he confronted Pajaro Valley High School Principal Todd Wilson about him allegedly threatening to tow students' vehicles for participating in the protests.
Medina laid out his issue with the principal, "A principal telling students they voted for Trump crosses a clear line. Threatening consequences, including towing vehicles, for participating in a protest violates student rights and undermines trust. School leaders should remain politically neutral and protect lawful student expression. PVHS deserves leadership that respects students, their rights, and their culture."
According to the Pajaronian, "Wilson said those statements are ‘categorically untrue’ and that school administrators only wanted to keep students safe. He declined to comment on his later interaction with Medina."
Neither Medina nor Wilson responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
The agenda item was posted after the Pajaro Valley Unified School District penned a letter on Friday to the community sharing concern about students leaving the campus to protest ICE.
The Board took issue with Medina’s characterization of the district’s handling of the student-led protest and implicated him in the broader effort of encouraging students to leave campus.
Pajaro Valley High School students, based in Watsonville, CA, joined the national walkout protests against ICE on Jan. 30. Initially, the students planned to meet in the quad on campus for a rally to hear remarks from an organization called Your Allied Rapid Response and "one another, amidst adults who’ve routinely met students where they are on a wide spectrum of issues."
What was planned to be an on-campus event ventured into an off-campus gathering.
As students met on campus, they were encouraged to leave to join the larger protest event that was organized to march to a rally in Watsonville's Civic Plaza. Some of the students joined. The Board took issue with criticisms that the students were not encouraged to join the larger protest, claiming "student suppression."
"However, what should have been a day of collaborative movement forward, turned into an immature spectacle of assumptions, stereotyping, and personal bias. The students’ plan to gather together was partially thwarted by outside parties claiming student suppression, who by their actions ironically decreased the number of actual student voices heard that day, and limited the overall educational impact of the moment," the Board wrote.
The Board said that school officials "cannot encourage students to leave campus."
"We can, and did, encourage them to organize on campus and speak for what they believe in. This was taken from them when others came onto our campus with a megaphone, telling students to leave. Some of our students left with them, but some thought twice," the letter reads.
It continued, "What was made clear to us, however, is the need for a code of conduct for how guests and elected officials interact with our students; to instigate children to leave campus and lead them to the plaza where no additional platform, perimeters, or program were provided before the end of their school day, was not sound judgment by those adults."
"We are NOT what Trustee Medina represented of us on his public platforms," the letter wrote.
RHODE ISLAND ACTIVIST SLAMS ADULT-RUN NONPROFIT THAT PROMOTED 'STUDENT-LED' ANTI-ICE SCHOOL WALKOUT
Medina posted a statement on Instagram Thursday responding to the district’s letter.
"I did not instruct students to leave campus. I did not organize their walkout. I did not tell students where to go. I was driving down Main Street when I saw students already walking and exercising speech and assembly protected under the Constitution and California law," Medina wrote in a statement posted on Instagram. Medina further explained that staff were told that students leaving campus would face consequences.
"The communication sent to staff about the walkout matters in this conversation. Staff were told the walkout was not approved, told to keep students in class, and told students leaving campus would face consequences and repercussions. That language shapes how students understand their rights and their risk," Medina wrote in the response letter.
"Were parents and students notified of these rights before students began organizing to walk out?" he explained further.
Medina posted on Instagram informing students of their right to protest.
"SB 955 allows middle and high school students to receive excused absences for civic engagement, including protests and walkouts. Students invoke SB 955 by informing their school the absence relates to civic engagement, with brief written notice if requested," Medina wrote under the post.
The law states that students' absences are excused "provided that the pupil notifies the school ahead of the absence."