Roughly 630 Austin high school and middle school students who joined in immigration protests Monday will not be allowed to make up for missing school, said Austin Independent School District spokeswoman Kathy Anthony Tuesday.
All AISD students and parents were thoroughly briefed on the consequences of students missing school, Anthony said.
"We repeatedly advised that leaving school is an unexcused absence," Anthony said. "Students cannot make up any work they missed."
These hundreds of AISD students joined more than 1,000 others at the foot of the Martin Luther King Jr. Statue on the East Mall of campus and thousands at the Capitol Monday afternoon. This was only one of many protests held throughout the past month to oppose immigration reform legislation in Congress that would make illegal immigrants felons and criminalize providing assistance to them.
AISD has 17 middle schools and 12 high schools that enroll a total of 36,000 students.
In response to this situation, AISD and Hays Consolidated Independent School District have taken steps to develop a curriculum in their social studies classes that addresses immigration issues and provides a discussion forum.
"Students will talk about information in class," Anthony said. "That's really the place to learn, discuss and share opinions."
Although the Latino Leadership Council was not one of the 20 student organizations involved in planning Monday's rally, many of its members participated, said Victor Esqueda, LLC co-director.
"We are definitely proud. This goes beyond just Latinos," said Esqueda, an economics senior.
The University Democrats helped plan the on-campus rally, but did not directly encourage high school or middle school students to attend, said Brandon Chicotsky, University Democrats president.
"It was a collaborative effort by leaders around campus to bring in other support," said Chicotsky, an anthropology junior.
Chicotsky denied rumors that the UDems had been contacting high schools throughout the past week asking them to excuse their students to support the protest. He said the group's main focus was encouraging UT students to participate.
"I don't believe that most middle school and high school kids are fully educated on this complex issue and are being used as fillers," said Ryan Martinez, University liaison for College Republicans.
Hays Consolidated Independent School District is taking a different angle on recent immigration protests by bringing politicians to students and incorporating immigration issues into the curriculum, said Julie Crimmins, spokeswoman for Hays CISD. The school district is pushing forward with a curriculum adjustments, she said.
"We certainly support freedom of speech and right to assemble," Anthony said. "But it needs to take place outside of the school day."
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