EXCLUSIVE: Internal emails, messages and memos from Arizonas Flagstaff Unified School District (FUSD) reveal that staff allegedly breached security protocol and violated several school policies by facilitating a student walkout to protest (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 . 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.”
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 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.”
