At least 400 students at walked out of their classrooms Friday to protest the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement tactics despite district officials having told pupils they were “not permitted” to participate in demonstrations.
Mapleton school administrators did not stop students from protesting or leaving class at the district’s Skyview and Global campuses, spokeswoman Melissa Johnson said Friday afternoon.
A third student protest was expected to take place at 3 p.m. she said.
“Our kids did participate in protests and nobody did stop them,” Johnson said. “We do support their First Amendment rights.”
District officials were concerned about students leaving campus unsupervised, but school administrators were able to monitor the protests to ensure pupils’ safety, she said.
“Of course, we are very proud of them,” Johnson said of the students. “We don’t like them just walking off campus.”
Officials with Mapleton Public Schools, serving more than 7,000 students in Adams County, sent a letter to families Thursday, ahead of Friday’s ICE Out walkouts and protests, saying that students “are not permitted to leave campus or to participate in demonstrations during the school day.”
“We understand that current events can raise strong emotions, and we recognize that students may want to express their views,” Mapleton Superintendent of Schools Mike Crawford wrote. “We respect students’ desires to have their voices heard regarding matters which are important to them. In fact, we strive to ensure all schools create safe spaces for student views to be expressed.”
But, Crawford said, “We encourage families to talk with their students about safe and appropriate ways to express their views and get involved with the community in ways that support, rather than disrupt, their learning.”
Johnson said before the demonstrations that students who participate in the protests will be marked absent from class, but would not be disciplined, such as with suspensions or expulsions.
“It’s not necessarily about the protesting,” Johnson said. “It’s about them being in the classroom when they need to be. It’s really about being in class. If they go outside and they’re on campus and participate in a protest, they are not in class.”
Attorney David Lane said schools aren’t allowed to prevent students from protesting as it violates their First Amendment rights.
“Telling students they are not permitted to do this could be interpreted as a violation of the First Amendment,” he said.
Colorado students are protesting as part of the nationwide ICE Out movement. Teachers and other school staff have also called out of work as part of a general strike, forcing districts such as Denver Public Schools and to either cancel classes or delay school hours.
DPS, the state’s largest district, had about 300 students walk out of Northfield High and march around the campus. Students did not walk out of East High, the city’s largest school, but “attendance was very light,” said district spokesman Scott Pribble.
DPS students were among those to attend a protest at the Colorado State Capitol, he said.
About 75 students protested at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Early College on Friday morning, Pribble said.
“We always acknowledge their right to free speech as long as it’s done in a peaceful and respectful way,” he said.
Between 150 and 200 students walked out of Brighton High School on Friday morning. Of those students, about 90 marched to city hall, said Janelle Asmus, spokeswoman for .
The students, who were accompanied by the high school’s staff, marched back to campus after the protest and went back to class, she said, adding that pupils who participated in the protest were marked absent for the classes they missed.
“We’re really proud how all these groups came together to have really good results,” Asmus said. “They’re back in class doing what they need to do to be good students.”
Updated 5:55 p.m. Jan. 30, 2026: Due to an editor’s error, this story previously mischaracterized the geographic area served by Mapleton Public Schools.
Updated 8:59 a.m. Feb. 2, 2026: This story incorrectly included the Boulder Valley School District in the K-12 systems that canceled or delayed classes. The district was open Friday, but operations were altered by the protests.
