As Connor Papas led the way out of Viera High School, he held an American flag high in one hand and a crucifix in the other.

“I’m a follower of Christ, and I believe in a country of love,” he said. “This is what has made this country great.”

Papas, a senior, is the son of an immigrant. As there’s been a crackdown on immigration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions escalating, culminating in the shooting deaths of protestors Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, he’s watched the people from his life here in Brevard struggle with the impacts.

That’s what led him to participate in Viera’s Feb. 6 walkout, just one of the protests happening at high schools around Brevard despite warnings from the district and school board chair that such actions would result in discipline.

“Immigrants, we make this country great. We’ve contributed so much to this country, and we believe in our constitutional rights, we believe in our due process rights, we believe in our God-given rights most importantly,” he said. “I would rather get suspended than let what happened to Renee Good and Alex Pretti happen again.”

Students walk out around county despite possible discipline

Over the course of the day Feb. 6, walkouts were set to take place at Satellite Beach, West Shore, Heritage, Melbourne, Bayside, Viera and Rockledge High.

Protests against recent ICE action have taken place throughout Brevard over the past month, with schools around Florida seeing walkouts over the past week, prompted by agents’ actions in “Operation Metro Surge” in Minnesota. More than 3,000 agents from ICE and Border Patrol have been deployed to Minneapolis, a city with just 600 police officers. Their presence has sparked major protests and backlash, particularly after the shooting deaths of protesters Good and Pretti.

The walkouts didn’t go unchallenged. While school protests have taken place around the nation for at least a week, news about walkouts in Brevard began circulating on social media on Feb. 2, and the district was quick to respond. Brevard Public Schools Superintendent Mark Rendell and School Board Chair Susin issued statements the same day, with both saying the walkouts weren’t affiliated with BPS and that protests during school hours or on school campuses would result in discipline.

“Our schools are places for learning, and instructional time during the school day is important,” Rendell said in an email sent to families. “For that reason, walkouts or protests during the school day are not permitted.”

A day later, Commissioner of Education Anastasios Kamoutsas sent a letter to school districts with guidance on how to handle possible protests. While he reminded them that students have First Amendment rights, he also said that students can be disciplined based on local district policies and state law.

“Any student whose actions are to the contrary should be appropriately disciplined,” he said. “Districts have a responsibility to ensure that any protest activity does not interrupt instructional time, school operations and campus safety.”

Despite the warnings, students walked out at campuses scattered throughout the county, many ready to accept that their actions may result in suspensions.

At Satellite High, law enforcement was present as a group of about 15 students walked out with signs, though they didn’t engage with the students.

Loren Soper, a sophomore at Satellite High, was checked out of the school by her mom Friday morning, a requirement to leave campus. She was holding a sign that read “Get ICE out” just outside the school’s campus along with the small group of protestors.

Soper said other students had walked out of their classrooms but were not permitted to leave the campus.

“It’s more about silencing us than it being against the rules. I’m not worried about the actions taken against us as long as we get to speak out,” she said. 

Ginevra, a senior at Viera High, felt similarly.

“This is more important,” she said.

Both Ginevra’s parents are immigrants. While the district pushed for students not to cut into class time with their protests, saying on their website that the walkouts were “not related to school operations, school safety or a school-based issue,” Ginevra argued this was a misunderstanding of the topic.

“We have immigrants at this school, we have people who are afraid at this school, we have people like me who are first-generation Americans,” she said.

Small groups at both Melbourne High and West Shore walked out by mid-morning, according to students. In Rockledge, about 15 students had gathered by noon, with the number slowly increasing. Students reported that they had been given suspensions.

Students who left campuses without parental permission would be punished with detention or suspension following the walkouts, said Janet Murnaghan, chief strategic communications officer for BPS. She emphasized that only a small portion of the district’s high schoolers participated in the walkouts.

“Despite significant social media attention encouraging a large-scale student walkout, Brevard Public Schools experienced a calm and orderly day across the district,” she said in a statement to media. “Among our 16 high schools — serving approximately 23,000 students — fewer than 50 students participated in an unauthorized walkout. That’s a tiny fraction, less than half of one percent of the entire BPS high school population.”

Your comments: Most in favor of kids protesting

In a FLORIDA TODAY poll, we asked if you would support your student participating in a walkout protesting ICE’s actions. 58.26% of respondents said yes, while 41.74% said no.

Here’s what readers said.

“Not only would I support my child, I’d be right there with them. The reason this type of protest is significant is because it IS disruptive. Isn’t that the point? ICE in its current is a cancer that needs to be excised from our government. DHS was founded in response to the Sept . 11 terror attacks, not to murder Americans in the streets. And I haven’t heard anything about DHS involvement in teerorism — actual terrorism — since that idiot was elected president. Our national security is gravely at risk due to racism. Pure and simple. You go, Brevard students!”

— Karen Bousquet

“I’m for ICE, but with all that is going on that stupid people allowed in the first place, kids have a say so too, so yes. Its not their fault, its lawmakers and politicians why were at this juncture. Republicans should have NEVER let democrats bring in illegals in the first place. So its their fault too for being so pansie assed. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Now its like putting a tiny bandaid on a gaping wound. So yes, let the kids vent and get their frustration out that stupid adults created. Period.”

— Cindy Adams

“I have raised my children to fight for their beliefs, in a peaceful manner. They know their thoughts matter and should be able to voice them, and speak out against anything they feel is wrong. Letting children protest peacefully at school should be encouraged, to reinforce they can make change. We should be encouraging kids to think independently, not blindly follow.”

— Lisa Martin

“No, they are kids who should be educated what ICE is, what they do and why they are doing it. Social media should be banned during school hours.”

— Eva McDaniel

Tyler Vazquez contributed to this report.

Finch Walker is the education reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at fwalker@floridatoday.com. X: @_finchwalker. Instagram: @finchwalker_.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Despite warnings, Brevard high schoolers walk out to protest ICE actions

Reporting by Finch Walker, Florida Today / Florida Today

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect