The Howell High School student walkout set for Thursday, Feb. 19, has been rescheduled. It will take place immediately at the end of the school day on Friday, Feb. 20.
Moving the day and time of the event was done after “much consideration and thought regarding safety and the concerns raised over the past week,” wrote Jack MacGregor, one of the organizers, in a message to students. One of the benefits of the move, he said, is that students won’t be missing class.
“While this will be less of a traditional ‘walkout’ since we’re not walking out of class, we will still be walking out at the end of the day,” MacGregor said. “This does not carry any less of a message — our voices will still be heard, and our presence will still matter.”
The planned event at Howell High School is part of a nationwide movement during which students have been speaking out against ICE; in Michigan, these events have been taking place in various communities over the past couple weeks. The events also come at a time when support for ICE is plummeting, even among Republicans.
The Howell High School event as originally planned touched off a firestorm on social media. Even state Rep. Jason Woolford weighed in on the event, and while he was not present at Monday’s meeting of the Howell Public Schools Board of Education, a letter he wrote was read into the record by board member Jason Bedford.
In that letter, Woolford appeared to threaten the district: “While schools are not penalized for student viewpoints, districts can place taxpayer-funded education dollars at risk when instructional hours are used for non-educational activities or when administrators fail to enforce policies consistently,” he wrote. “Continued disregard for these standards may invite audits, corrective action, or scrutiny from state or federal authorities, including the U.S. Department of Education.”
