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Parent tells Burleson ISD trustees students were punished for walkouts; district offered no prior notice of suspensions, she says
Summary
During public comment, parent Susan Ko said three of her children were suspended after participating in student walkouts protesting ICE actions, accused the district of punishing peaceful protest, and said parents were not given prior notice that students could be suspended.
Susan Ko, a Burleson parent, told the board on March 9 that students at several middle and high schools held walkouts a few weeks earlier to protest immigration‑enforcement actions and that the district disciplined participating students.
“You guys chose to punish them,” Ko said, adding that three of her children were suspended and that one had an otherwise spotless record. She said parents were not informed in advance that participation could lead to suspension and criticized announcements that threatened disciplinary action without notifying families beforehand.
Ko tied the district’s response to political pressure, asserting the district was acting out of fear of losing state funding: “All because they're scared of Greg Abbott pulling their funding,” she said. The board did not respond to Ko’s remarks during the public comment period recorded in the transcript.
The district had sent parents an email, Ko said, that explained campus staff may not physically prevent a student from leaving, that students who left during the school day to participate would receive an unexcused absence “in according with the TEA guidance,” and that students who left the building would not be permitted to reenter. Ko quoted the notice and said the administration had warned via school announcements that participants could be suspended, but that parents were only informed afterward when schools called to report disciplinary actions.
The transcript does not record a superintendent or other district official responding to Ko during the meeting, nor does it record the board voting on any change to suspension policy. The board moved immediately into a closed session after public comment. The district’s publicly posted disciplinary policy and any TEA guidance referenced by Ko were not included in the transcript and therefore are not described here.
Next steps: the board reconvened after a closed session and approved routine personnel authority and other agenda items; no immediate reversal of the suspensions or a formal response to Ko was recorded in the minutes presented in the transcript.
