Hours after more than 500 students walked out of both campuses of Waukegan High School on Friday, marching to Veterans Plaza to protest the immigration enforcement policies of President Donald Trump’s administration, social media was abuzz with criticism, praise and inaccuracies.
Comments ranged from “keep walking back to the countries your parents came from,” to “this country has a great future with these kids standing up for our Constitution and fellow citizens,” to criticism of a large cross carried by the students with an image of Trump nailed to it.
On Wednesday, the Lake County News-Sun’s Facebook page had more than 900 comments and 80 shares on the newspaper’s story published online Saturday. Some social media commenters suggested that school officials organized the walkout.
Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 Board of Education President Michael Rodriguez said Tuesday he was asked to resign by a member of the public for his alleged role in organizing the event. He said the students did it themselves, and he is proud of them.
Rodriguez said neither the board, the administration nor any teachers or staff, had anything to do with the walkout and march. It was organized and led by students, he said, providing the community with a “lesson in civics.”
“These children have done something which I am proud of; very proud of,” he said. “I think we all owe them a debt of gratitude. They are not just speaking up for themselves; they are speaking up for all of us who feel helpless to do anything.”
Rodriguez and four other board members praised the student demonstrators during a Board of Education Meeting on Tuesday at the Education Service Center in Waukegan, in attempting to correct misconceptions expressed on social media and elsewhere.
Board members made it clear during the meeting that the walkout was a student-organized demonstration.
Nick Alatzakis, the district’s communications director, said after the meeting the district received numerous phone calls, emails and social media postings criticizing the walkout and the school’s participation. He did not have a precise number.
Alatzakis said there were “a good number of” communications about the cross with Trump’s image on it, but more were about the walkout itself, both for and against. Based on the district’s technology system, school personnel had an idea where the communications originated.
“A lot of the communications did not mention it specifically,” he said. “A lot of the critical calls were not from Waukegan. Locally, the calls and social media were different. They were more supportive of our students.”
Though there was criticism of the cross with Trump’s image affixed to it, the Rev. Julie Congrares, a Waukegan pastor active in the immigrant community, said in an interview Tuesday morning, it was not sacrilegious.
“The cross is a symbol of the Crucifixion of Jesus,” Contreras said. “This is a piece of art with the artist’s message. It’s his interpretation. His cross represents justice, not the Crucifixion.”
Students who left school early without a note from their parents — the walkout started after seventh period at around 1:30 p.m. — will be marked down for an unexcused absence. Alatzakis said any discipline will be treated that way. The severity will depend on the individual student’s overall attendance record.
On Friday, Alatzakis said there were 1,300 fewer students in school for the eighth period than there were during the third period that morning. Waukegan police estimated around 500 people were at Veterans Plaza. There is no precise reason for the differential.
Rodriguez said part of the reason he believes the students organized a protest is that nothing is being done to ease the pain many of their families are feeling as the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies continue. Families are living in fear, he said.
“They don’t want to just sit back and wait for the adults to do something they don’t see as being done,” Rodriguez said. “They’re taking matters into their own hands. These are children, technically, but these are young adults. There are the young men and women who are going to be our doctors, our lawyers, teachers, our superintendents.”
Board member Rick Riddle said the students gave everyone a lesson in democracy. When elected leaders do things with which individuals disagree, taking action to communicate a message is appropriate, he said.
“I want to say something about democracy,” Riddle said. “We have leadership in our school from our young people who felt the need to get involved. We are going to be turning over power to you in a few years. Democracy is not always going to be there unless you fight for it.”
Board member Carolina Fabian said adults in the community need to “verify your sources before posting and reposting falsehoods.” Though teachers, administrators and board members were not involved with the walkout, there was learning involved.
“Learning comes in various forms,” Fabian said. “This moment created an opportunity for student leaders to learn and emerge and work with city officials. It gave them the opportunity to work with their peers to demonstrate civics in action.”
Board member Christine Lensiong said crises of her parents’ generation — the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy — and the impact she had learning of the 9/11 attack on the United States while in school brought the country together. Today’s issues do the opposite. Students needed to act, she said.
“Two of our high school students led the charge and organized this walkout in two days,” Lensing said. “(Protests) need to be organized, peaceful, purposeful and, of course, safe. It’s not an opportunity to get out of class. It is a protected right under our Constitution.”
