At the intersection of Valley Mills and Waco Drives, commonly refered to as “Freedom Corner”, dozens of La Vega High School students and community members gathered to protest recent ICE activity.
Layla Hayes, a senior at La Vega Early College High School, led students in chants against ICE. Hayes helped to organize Saturday’s protest.
"This affects our community a lot because [in] Bellmead, our minority is majority. We feel the need to say what we want to say and we want change to happen," Hayes said.
Hayes says the original plan was to hold a walkout on Friday afternoon, but school administration prevented that event.
"They locked all of the students in so they weren’t able to express their rights,"
Following widespread student walkouts in January, Texas Governor Gregg Abbott ordered the Texas Education Agency to investigate school districts’ response to the protests.
On Thursday, La Vega ISD shared a letter to parents on their social media stating in part, “La Vega ISD does not approve of or support student walkouts during the school day … We encourage families to discuss and consider more appropriate and productive ways to express their views on important issues.”
"So then we figured, why not make it more of a community based [event]? That way we can have more of an audience and be able to bring more people out," Hayes said.
The protest follows an organized walkout at both University High School and Waco High School where hundreds of students walked out of class in January. Students at Midway High School originally planned a walkout for last week, but administration persuaded students to “pursue more effective and appropriate ways to express their concerns.”
Got a tip? Email Molly-Jo Tilton at Molly-jo_tilton@baylor.edu.
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