Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you.
Posted on 03/03/2026 10:02:49 AM PST by lightman
In most Lancaster County school districts where students have protested against recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, administrators are taking disciplinary action against the students.
Only in the School District of Lancaster did a protest end in something other than detentions. More than 700 McCaskey High School students gathered peacefully outside the school for 45 minutes Friday to speak out against ICE movements.
“In general, we allow students to exercise their free speech rights,” district spokesman Adam Aurand said, “as long as they gather peacefully, follow all directions for safety, and disperse when directed.”
That was not the case at Elizabethtown Area, Hempfield and Manheim Township high schools, where administrators issued detentions to students who walked out of classes for ICE protests during a school day last month.
Administrators from all three districts said that the detentions were issued as a disciplinary action for an unexcused absence during school — not to condemn the students for protesting.
As part of a broad federal crackdown on illegal immigration in major U.S. cities, ICE in early December sent a few thousand armed immigration agents to Minneapolis. Two people protesting enforcement actions in the city were killed by ICE agents, sparking protests nationwide.
Manheim Township High School seniors Ethan Mellinger and Brody Ketner took their district’s response to their protest in stride; both said the cause was worth it. The two organized Manheim Township’s Feb. 17 protest of roughly 380 students through an Instagram page.
“As far as I’m concerned, I feel so strongly about caring for other people I know and even that I don’t know across the country that are being harmed by (immigration enforcement), I’m willing to take a little bit of a stand to do what I think is right,” Mellinger said.
A Manheim Township School District spokesperson declined to comment on the number of students who received detention, citing the district’s policy not to comment on student discipline.
Mellinger and Ketner received two detentions each because they missed five minutes of one class and the entirety of another to prepare for and participate in the walkout. They said school administrators gave students a choice of four different days to serve their detentions, and each detention session is being held in an area that can accommodate a large number of students.
Mellinger served his first detention Thursday and plans to serve his second Tuesday.
At Hempfield, 62 of 100 student protesters received detention after attending a protest Feb. 17, according to district spokesperson Kelly Burkholder. In an email Thursday, Burkholder said those who did not receive detention had signed permission by their parents for an early dismissal or did not have a scheduled class during the walkout.
Elizabethtown Area School District spokesperson Troy Portser said he did not know the total number of students who protested, but eight were marked absent for not appearing in their regularly scheduled class during the walkout, and those students received detention.
Student protests against ICE tactics have been so prevalent across the country over the last two months that Virginia Gov. Abigail Spangberger voiced her support for the young demonstrators in her Democratic rebuttal to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address last week.
Leaving class, however, is not a form of protest protected under the First Amendment, and Republican leaders have encouraged consequences for students who protest.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, on the social media platform X, applauded a superintendent for suspending 122 students in Mustang School District.
In Quakertown, some students were charged with assault after a melee that started during an ICE protest after the plainsclothed police chief put a student in a headlock.
‘A chance to use our voice’ Mellinger and Ketner participated in an ICE protest in downtown Lancaster last month. At the time, they were already in talks with Manheim Township administrators to organize a protest of their own at the high school.
“We’re joining thousands around the country standing up,” Ketner said. “It’s really important for the youth to show that we are the future generations and we have to be able to stand up to the face of injustice. Doing that in a peaceful way really shows our community, also the entire world, how much we really care about this.”
Manheim Township administrators told students they could receive punishment according to the school’s attendance policy for leaving class to hold the protest during school hours, Mellinger said. He posted a warning that discipline was likely on the organizing Instagram page.
As long as the protest did not become violent, which it did not, Mellinger said, the students were told they would not receive an in-school or out-of-school suspension.
Administrators sent an email to all district families the day before the student protest, “clarifying that the district does not condone students leaving the building during school hours and that students walking out of school during valuable instructional time is not permissible and may result in disciplinary and academic consequences,” Davidson said Thursday.
Ketner’s main complaint about the administration’s response to the student protest was a delay in communication to inform students what punishment they would receive for protesting. Though the students protested Feb. 17, detentions were not served until Tuesday.
“The lack of communication about punishments created some undue anxiety for a lot of people,” Ketner said.
Hempfield administrators called 62 of the student protestors into the cafeteria to assign them detention, Burkholder said.
“Several student leaders informed staff of their intent to protest. We made it clear that as a district we are apolitical, and if they walk out without permission, consequences would be assigned,” Burkholder said.
Hempfield parent Jaci Hooser said she sent in written permission for her daughter to protest after it had taken place, and her daughter was not disciplined.
“I was happy that she went out to show her support for her fellow students who are maybe scared in the school or scared that they’re going to come home and their parents won’t be there or whatever the situation may be,” Hoosier said.
Manheim Township students are working with others throughout Lancaster County to organize another protest against continuing ICE actions in March — this time as a coordinated, multidistrict protest on the same day.
“A walkout like this gives us all a chance to use our voice,” Mellinger said. “We walk out of school and say, listen, we are so upset by the mistreatment of our brothers and sisters across the country that we are willing to take a stand and say enough is enough, and any voice that you can share is one that can be and will be listened to by as many people that hear it.”
|
|
Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
As they should!
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
Manheim Township and Hempfield suffer from chronic affluenza.
Delighted to see that these purple areas took a hard line!
Central Pennsylvania, eh? There is a saying. Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with West Virginia in between.
I suppose that’s meant to be some sort of dig.
But most central Pennsylvanians don’t take it that way.
They should be given Sponsorship For Aliens forms and told to bring them back with their parents signatures so they can PAY FOR All their needs
May it continue.
Severely.
Forget the sissy “detentions”.
Send the punks to 3 consecutive weekends in York County Prison.
Honestly, the more I think about it the more I find it distasteful.
We want our children to develop a love for civic duty. Why punish it?
Republican parents should be teaching their children to rally and support pro-life initiatives, rally and support tax cuts, rally and support the abolition of these administrative state agencies that are lording over us, rally and support faith-based initiatives, rally and support getting rid of Common Core propaganda out of the schools.
I’m sorry, I don’t think teaching our children to be subservient to the state and to be subservient to the school and professors is healthy.
When did hating civic duty become a good thing? When did hating the U.S. Constitution become something Conservatives engage in?
PUNISH THE TEACHERS who no doubt helped “organize” the walkouts!
I’m not sure.
It is one thing if its specific and exclusive to these ICE riots - that’s clearly not good, but I think we need our children more involved in civics.
Schools used to teach civics. Not anymore!!!
Can we bring civics teaching back to schools? That would actually be really good.
Pennsyltucky? I never heard that one. But it fits. And I mean that in a good way.
Yeah, in our day you didn’t “walk out” of school.
tru·ancy [ˈtruːən(t)si] - noun - truancy (noun) - truancies (plural noun)
the action of staying away from school without good reason; absenteeism:
“fines to tackle truancy”
All traitors who support illegal alien murderers and rapist deserve the death penalty. Nothing less. /spit
As a retired high school teacher, I can assure you that those kids that participated in the walkouts knew nothing of the issues. They were looking for any excuse to ditch class.
Not a dig. Like many states, Democrats control and dominate PA's 2 biggest cities. More conservative, down to earth people live between Philly and Pittsburgh.
Have you lost your marbles?
Yes teaching civic duty is good. But teaching and supporting subversion of law enforcement is very bad, and in this case suicidal to the nation.
Brainwashed little POSs.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.