Student Walkouts, School Discipline, and Legal Guidance: “Please protest, but be smart about it," by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Student Walkouts, School Discipline, and Legal Guidance: 

“Please protest, but be smart about it," 

by 

Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

Wish permission to share, I am on a discussion thread with colleagues, including attorneys like Baldo Garza, in Houston addressing students' right to protest in light of recently-released state-level guidance provided by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). I was happy to see that in my hometown of San Angelo, another student protest occurred today. Hence, all the more reason to post this message.

San Angelo Central High Student Walkout

Specifically, as student-led walkouts continue across Texas in response to ICE enforcement, schools, districts, and the state have responded with a familiar set of tools: discipline policies, attendance rules, and warnings about legal consequences. 

What we are witnessing is not simply a debate about protest logistics, but a broader contest over who gets to define the boundaries of civic participation for young people—and under what conditions.

Below, I share three documents that are circulating right now: legal guidance from a practicing Texas attorney, a principal’s letter to families, and formal guidance issued by the Texas Education Agency (TEA). I present them here without alteration, because it is important that students, parents, and educators see exactly how the law and institutions are framing student protest.

Before sharing them, however, it’s worth naming the pattern that connects all three: The law consistently prioritizes order, attendance, and institutional control over student voice—especially when that voice challenges state power.

That does not mean students should not protest. It does mean that they must understand the terrain.

1. Legal Guidance: “Please protest, but be smart about it.”

The following guidance comes from Baldomero "Baldo" J. Garza, a practicing attorney based in Houston, Texas. His advice is direct, pragmatic, and grounded in an understanding of how school discipline and state power operate.

Highlighting in blue the principal's notice (see complete notice below):

"no form of protest that interferes with the educational environment will be allowed on campus"

1. Looking at the map of the school, students can protest outside the fence on Scott Street after school.

"impairs school operations and/or impinges on the rights of other students will face disciplinary consequences"

 2. Do the protest after school on the sidewalk.

"students who leave class without permission"

 3. Have the protest after school.

Please protest, but be smart about it.

The law will always want to quiet you. Be smarter than the law.

Baldo

This guidance captures a hard truth: the law does not exist to protect dissent—it exists to regulate it. Knowing that reality allows students to make informed decisions rather than symbolic sacrifices that carry long-term consequences.

2. The School’s Position: Discipline, Attendance, and Control of Time

Below is the full letter sent to families by the principal of the High School for Law & Justice Early College. It reflects how schools are being instructed—formally and informally—to respond.

Student Protest

Dear HSLJEC Community,

As the principal of the High School for Law & Justice Early College, it is my job to ensure that our school is conducive to learning. To that end, it is incumbent upon me to ensure that disruptions remain outside of the school day. I have learned that students plan to protest during the school day on Wednesday, February 11th during 8th period regarding ICE. While we welcome healthy debate in appropriate settings, I write to remind parents and students that no form of protest that interferes with the educational environment will be allowed on campus.

Students who engage in speech/expression that impairs school operations and/or impinges on the rights of other students will face disciplinary consequences as set forth in the Student Code of Conduct. Also, students who leave class without permission as a result of participation in a walkout/protest, will be marked absent (unexcused) and will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action, including but not limited to an assigned Saturday detention. Per our Student Handbook, students who do not attend their assigned detention are subject to in-school suspension.

At HSLJEC, our primary goals remain to provide a quality education and a safe environment for all our students. Please contact Dr. Shetzer or Mrs. Reed if you have any questions or concerns about how the campus will operate on Wednesday, February 11, 2026.

Sincerely,
Dr. Steven Shetzer, Principal

This letter is notable not for its tone—it is measured and professional—but for the assumptions embedded within it. Learning is framed as incompatible with protest, as though civic engagement necessarily undermines education rather than deepens it. Discipline, in turn, is presented as a neutral administrative response, stripped of context, rather than what it often is in moments like these: a political choice about whose voices are permitted, when, and under what conditions.

3. The State’s Position: Enforcement, Sanctions, and Surveillance

Finally, here is the TEA’s official guidance, issued February 3, 2026, following the Governor’s directive to investigate student walkouts.

TEA Releases Guidance for School Systems Outlining Consequences Regarding Student Walkouts, Absences and Educator and District Responsibilities

February 3, 2026

AUSTIN, Texas – February 3, 2026 – The Texas Education Agency (TEA) today released guidance regarding student walkouts, absences and actions related to political activism in response to Governor Greg Abbott’s directive to investigate instances of inappropriate political activism deliberately disrupting the learning environment in Texas public schools.

Consequences for students, teachers and school districts can include but are not limited to the following:Students must be marked as absent and schools risk losing daily attendance funding if they allow or encourage students to walk out of class. 

Teachers that facilitate walk outs will be subject to investigation and sanction including licensure revocation.

School systems that facilitate walkouts will be subject to investigation and sanction, including either the appointment of a monitor, conservator or board of managers.

Today, in classrooms across Texas, tomorrow’s leaders are learning the foundational, critical thinking skills and knowledge necessary for lifelong learning, serving as the bedrock for the future success of our state and nation. It is in this spirit that school systems have been reminded of their duty and obligation to ensure that their students are both safe and that they attend school, with consequences for students for unexcused absences.

State law prohibits school systems from supporting or opposing any forms of political activism that disrupts learning during the school day, including facilitation of political activism through the use of taxpayer-funded district resources. If a school system is found to be in violation of state law, the agency will investigate and take appropriate action, which can include the appointment of a monitor, conservator or board of managers.

State law also prohibits certified educators from encouraging or facilitating student departures from a class or school activity to engage in any form of political activism. Educators are also subject to all requirements in the Educator Code of Ethics and local employment guidelines. If findings related to violations of law by certified educators are made, such fundings will be referred to SBEC Enforcement, which will pursue enforcement actions with the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC) to seek sanctions as warranted.

Individuals with any concerns not addressed in their school’s local grievance process should submit a complaint with the agency through the Online Complaints Form. The agency thoroughly investigates each complaint received. If violations of law are found, the agency will take appropriate action to ensure that state law is upheld.

View the agency’s guidance issued to school systems: District Attendance Policies, Complaints and Educator Responsibilities

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This guidance makes explicit what is often implicit: the state views student protest primarily as a compliance problem, and not a civic one. The emphasis is on funding loss, licensure revocation, investigations, and state takeover—not on student well-being, democratic engagement, or moral development.

A Final Word

Students have always been told to wait, to be patient, to stay in line. Yet history tells us that some of the most important democratic shifts in this country were initiated by young people who refused to stay silent. Protests against ICE-related violence are not acts of defiance for their own sake—they are acts of civic conscience. They arise not from a desire to disrupt, but from a refusal to normalize harm. We should all be deeply troubled by the brazen—at times seemingly gratuitous—violence directed at communities like theirs. 

When young people see their families living under threat, when they witness policies that destabilize the very households that make learning possible, their response is not rebellion. It is moral clarity. Expressed differently, they have a stake in the outcome. Their futures, their families, and their sense of safety are bound up in the policies being debated. To expect silence under those conditions is to misunderstand both democracy and youth.

That said, if students choose to protest, I agree with Baldo Garza. They should do so with eyes wide open—informed about the consequences, strategic about location and timing, and supported by adults who understand both the law and the long arc of justice.

The law may want to quiet them.

That does not mean they are wrong to speak—especially on matters that are so deeply meaningful to them. 

I sure hope this is helpful. Thanks to Baldo, Johnny Mata, and our Houston colleagues for leading on these matters.