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EXCLUSIVE: Internal emails, messages and memos from Arizona’s Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) reveal that staff allegedly breached security protocol and violated several school policies by facilitating a student walkout to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) earlier this year, according to America First Legal.
Hundreds of Flagstaff high school and middle school students walked out of class to protest ICE on Jan. 28. The protest came amid national controversy over the deaths of anti-ICE activists Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota. Immediately after the walkout, many parents, citing safety concerns, expressed outrage that they were not notified that their children had been allowed to leave school premises without their consent. One parent who said they had children under the age of 12 said the “district failed us as parents.”
Documents obtained by America First Legal, a conservative watchdog group, reveal that FUSD officials knew about the walkout days in advance and also coordinated with students. The documents, which were reviewed by Fox News Digital, were obtained by America First Legal through a lawsuit forcing FUSD to comply with its public records request for records related to the walkout.
Screenshots from a district staff text group show faculty coordinating during the walkout. One staff member texted, “We have 75 plus students staged outside of fhs [Flagstaff High School] getting ready to walk.” In the same message, the staff member wrote, “Looks like we have some members of the public joining.”
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Another concerning text from a staff member read, “Be aware of propped open doors that are left for reentry.”
In response to America First Legal’s criticism, a spokesperson for the district told Fox News Digital that “We respectfully disagree that the Flagstaff Unified School District encouraged students to attend or intentionally ignored District policies.”
The spokesperson said, “The District was placed in the challenging position of balancing students’ First Amendment rights, student safety and school operations in the most appropriate way it could.”
District policy dictates that “the Superintendent shall limit access to school buildings and grounds” and that faculty “maintain protocols regarding the distribution of keys or equipment to access District property.” Further, FUSD policy also stipulates that students ages six to 16 are “required to attend school during the school’s hours” and “the school in which the student is enrolled shall make a reasonable effort to promptly telephone and notify the parent/legal guardian or other person who has custody of the student of the student’s absence from school.”
An email from a student to then Flagstaff High School Principal Tadd Ragan shows that district staff was aware the protest would take place at least two days in advance. The student informed Ragan that students were planning to walk out of their classes to protest against ICE at 11:45 a.m. The student said the protest would occur “near a main road for more recognition” and asked for advice “in finding a more organized way of going about this.”
In response, Ragan told the student that “as a District and School we have a plan to maintain a peaceful protest.” In a subsequent email, Ragan asked the student, “Can you come by my office during first period?”
Another faculty member, Flagstaff “instructional coach” Janet Chavez-Vesely, sent an email to several school administrators the day before the protest, revealing that she had discussed the planned walkout with the student Hispanic Culture Club. Chavez-Vesely wrote that she “stayed neutral and answered questions while they planned.”
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She noted that one of the students “plans to stop by and see me” to discuss the protest further. Chavez-Vesely told the school administrators, “I am available to support supervision,” adding, “just let me know where.”
Some parents who became aware of the walkout before it happened emailed the district, notifying staff that their children would be absent from school while citing safety concerns.
On Tuesday, one parent emailed Ragan, telling him, “I am keeping my daughter home from school this Wednesday as it has been brought to my attention that both Flagstaff high school and Coconino high school have planned out an entire protest.”
The parent wrote, “This is not something that I want my child involved in nor do I want her around during it nor do I want her suffering any of the consequences that come with not participating and or being pressured into participating in potentially getting in a violent situation.”
Another parent emailed faculty late on Tuesday night, writing, “My kids will not be at school tomorrow.” The parent noted, “This is not something that I want my children exposed to or involved in as situations like this in the past have become violent and unsafe.”
Meanwhile, at least one faculty member was excited about the protest, writing in a text, “This Walk out thing is going to be FUN!”
The morning of the protest, Sinagua Middle School Principal Christopher Koenker sent an email that FUSD “supports our students’ constitutional rights to peaceful assembly and free expression and is aware of student-led events planned.”
He wrote that “schools will neither encourage nor discourage student participation.” He added that the district was looking into providing additional staff and law enforcement presence “for protection and supervision, not to suppress student expression.”
After the protest, an internal “Walk Out Debrief” memo emphasized that “school isn’t responsible for students’ safety after they leave campus.”
Another memo noted that one teacher, identified as “Ms. Donovan,” took her class outside to witness “rights vs. responsibilities” on display at the walkout. An administrator noted that just three students remained inside and that “later conversations with the 3 students indicated that they really weren’t comfortable being outside.” The administrator noted she eventually asked Donovan to bring the class back inside “as it might appear that she was influencing them to be outside.”
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In the same memo, the administrator noted that Donovan also discussed ICE operations in her class and had told students that officers had “used” a five-year-old “to lure the family out to take him.” The administrator wrote that they had asked a student if she felt Donovan “pushes her opinions on her.” The student answered that after the protest Donovan had asked students to raise their hands if they participated in the protest after which she “congratulated them,” saying, “Great job for standing up for your first amendment rights.”
Parents, however, quickly expressed that they felt outraged and blindsided.
One mother wrote that after learning of the protest, she and her husband “were terrified that our daughter was peer pressured (by friends, classmates, teachers, and the school district) to be a part of this.”
“We’re thankful that our daughter remained at school, due to fear and frustration, but there is still the ‘what if’? What if something happened to any students during the walkout?” she continued, adding, “We expect the district to be transparent and not jeopardize our children’s safety.”
Another middle school parent wrote that they were not made aware of the protest or contacted until the end of the day. They wrote that their child “was under the impression this was a school sponsored event,” given that faculty allegedly provided “maps” and directions to the event.
“This school district has broken my trust and neglected your responsibilities and disregard for your own policies,” the parent wrote.
Commenting on this, America First Legal Senior Counsel James Rogers told Fox News Digital that “What these documents show is a stunning betrayal of that trust.”
Rogers said that FUSD’s “conduct raises serious questions about whether district employees crossed that line.”
“Parents deserved to know where their children were. The law required these officials to act, and they failed on both counts,” he said.
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