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, these 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 outside of campus after the school day ended on Monday.
It follows a string of protests at other schools around the area and across Florida, with some during school hours.
Last week, some students walked out of St. Petersburg High School and Hollins High School in Pinellas County.
In Hillsborough County, organized walkouts took place at Blake, Plant, Alonso and Hillsborough high schools.
In the Fort Myers area, there were similar walkouts at several schools.
Lee County School Superintendent Dr. Denise Carlin issued the following statement at Tuesday's meeting:
"Last week, approximately 3400 of our district's 100,000 students at 14 of our 84 schools participated in protests related to our nation's immigration policies. That's fewer than 4% of our students and 17% of the district schools that were involved while we recognize students constitutional rights to free expression our schools exist for one primary purpose, education. The school district of Lee County remains focused on students and staff members, safety, teaching and learning. Our responsibility is to ensure that every single student can attend school in an environment that is orderly, respectful and free from distraction and disruption. Behaviors that interfere with instruction or the safety of others will not be tolerated. Any student who violates district standards has been or will be disciplined in accordance with the students code of conduct."
Ahead of the rallies, Florida Education Commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas sent district superintendents statewide a letter on Feb. 3 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," Kamoutsas wrote.
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."
The Hillsborough Classroom Teachers Association, the district's teachers union, issued a statement Wednesday pushing back on those allegations.
"The School Board has established policies to ensure student safety during such events, and those procedures have existed long before the current political moment," the HCTA wrote. "What is new is the attempt by state officials to place school employees in the crosshairs of political disputes."
The HCTA said comments about school staff or the union being behind student organizing is false.
Hillsborough County School District officials said they do not have a districtwide count of disciplinary actions taken against students who participated in walkouts.
"School administrators implement discipline at their school sites in accordance with established guidelines," said Tanya Arja, the district's chief of communications.
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 it is offering to connect St. Petersburg High 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," Cochran said.
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 federal immigration agents, 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
A 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 1969 decision 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.
"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," Goldstein said.
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," Goldstein said.
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, is whether they're being punished more harshly than those who walked out for any other reason, he said.
"They can't face additional punishment because what they did was ideological. That would be viewpoint discrimination, and that would violate the First Amendment," Goldstein said.
WGCU contributed to this report. Copyright 2026
