With SF schools’ approval, students flood streets to protest immigration crackdown

San Francisco schools cleared the way for thousands of students to take part in walkouts Friday that filled Dolores Park and the Civic Center in protest of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

Youths from California’s sixth largest school district, with 55,840 pupils, took to the streets with others ranging from Novato and San Rafael to San Mateo and San Ramon.

“Middle and high school students have the right to participate in an off-campus protest and will receive an excused absence,” Maria Su, the San Francisco Unified School District’s superintendent, said in a statement. 

“Free speech is a protected right and something our school district takes seriously,” she said.

The walkouts follow the Jan. 24 killing of Alex Pretti by U.S. Border Patrol agents and Renee Nichole Good on Jan. 7 by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, both in Minneapolis.

Further approved walkouts may be in the offing. 

“One full-day excused absence for participation in a civic or political event is permitted per school year, with additional excused absences at the discretion of a school administrator,” according to Su’s statement.