High school students across the Tampa Bay region have walked out of class as part of a national movement protesting immigration enforcement.
Despite warnings from state officials about district penalties, students said they believe it's important to speak out.
"A lot of people were scared to speak up...scared of getting in trouble because of their classes ... but there are still students who speak up because they know what's important, because they know this is the only way to get someone to notice," said Valentina Santiago, a junior at Wharton High School in Tampa.
Santiago was among more than 20 students and community members who participated in a rally right outside of campus after the school day ended on Monday.
It follows a string of protests at other schools around the Tampa Bay area and across Florida, with some taking place during school hours.
Last week, students walked out of St. Petersburg High School and Hollins High School in Pinellas County.
In Hillsborough County, students organized walkouts at Blake, Plant, Alonso and Hillsborough high schools.
Ahead of the rallies, Florida Education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent district superintendents statewide a letter last Tuesday instructing staff not to "encourage, organize, promote or facilitate student participation in protest activity."
"Districts have a responsibility to ensure that any protest activity does not interrupt instructional time, school operations and campus safety," wrote Kamoutsas.
Two Republican state lawmakers have called on the commissioner to investigate Lennard High School principal Denise Savino over a protest students staged on Jan. 30.
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Rep. Danny Alvarez of Riverview and Rep. Michael Owen of Apollo Beach said they received reports of Savino allegedly instructing teachers "not to prevent students from leaving class to participate in protests."
Hillsborough School District officials said they do not have a district-wide count of disciplinary actions taken against students who participated in walk-outs.
"School administrators implement discipline at their school sites in accordance with established guidelines," said Chief of Communications Tanya Arja.
Arja also said consequences will vary based on the specific behavior or incident.
The Pinellas County School District did not respond to questions about disciplinary action in time for publication.
Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, which is known for its social justice work, said they are offering to connect St. Petersburg High School students to legal counsel if they face discipline such as suspension.
Nicole Cochran, a senior at Wharton who organized Monday's after-school protest, said she stands by those who choose to walk out during school hours.
"That is part of what organizing is. You usually get pushback, and protesting is to go against that pushback," said Cochran.
Cochran said she felt compelled to hold the rally so students have an outlet to speak their mind, especially at a school with a diverse student population.
A few students on campus have voiced their support for ICE, Cochran said. A protest was a way to "not to stand against them specifically, but to stand against the things they stand for."
"[It's] not to direct it at them because, of course, they don't deserve that," said Cochran, "but what they do deserve is to know that people do disagree with them."
Students' First Amendment right to protest
The historic Supreme Court Ruling Tinker v. Des Moines protects students' right to free speech in public schools as long as it doesn't disrupt the educational process.
The case stemmed from students wanting to wear black armbands at a public school in Des Moines, Iowa, as a silent protest against the Vietnam War.
Walking out during class likely doesn't fall within the scope of protection provided by Tinker v. Des Moines, said Adam Goldstein, vice president of strategic initiatives at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE).
"When you look at the context of student walkouts, [it's] pretty disruptive. It's very hard to teach students who aren't in class," said Goldstein.
However, Goldstein pointed out that historic examples of protests show that sometimes the point is to be disruptive.
"If you think about sit-ins at lunch counters during the Civil Rights Movement, the lunch counter was the place they were supposed to not go at all, and so sitting in was disruptive of the thing that was specifically part of the injustice they were facing," said Goldstein.
But students now may face the consequences of protesting just as people have in the past, he said.
"They made a calculus and decided they wanted to do that, and it's possible the student might make that same choice," said Goldstein.
What students should watch out for though, he said, is whether they're being punished more harshly than those who walked out for any other reason.
"They can't face additional punishment because what they did was ideological. That would be viewpoint discrimination, and that would violate the First Amendment," said Goldstein.
