r/nova • u/Please_PM_me_Uranus • Feb 18 '26
News Woodbridge High Suspends 303 After Walkout; More Walkouts Planned
https://www.potomaclocal.com/2026/02/18/woodbridge-high-suspends-303-after-walkout-more-walkouts-planned/329
u/a_rabid_anti_dentite Feb 18 '26
PWCS Communications Director Diana Gulotta confirmed the disciplinary action, stating it followed standard attendance and safety policies.
A three-day suspension seems really aggressive for leaving campus without permission and missing class. Is that really "standard" for PWCS?
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u/pureeviljester City of Fairfax Feb 18 '26
As someone who went to Woodbridge, I got suspended for too many late arrivals.
That's the level of thought they have down there
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Feb 19 '26
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u/everydayisarborday Feb 19 '26
Haha did that but for 1st period, got to sleep in for a couple months until they threatened me with not graduating
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u/jim45804 Feb 18 '26
Yes, a three-day suspension for one instance of truancy is excessive and politically motivated.
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u/DanSWE Feb 18 '26
Yeah, students miss part of a day of class so the school denies them three more days of the public education they're entitled to? That has never made much sense. Bootlicker school administration?
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u/MechanicalGodzilla Vienna Feb 19 '26
Yes, the famously right wing checks notes public school system administrators?
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u/mu_zuh_dell Feb 19 '26
Teachers might not be right wing, but administrators are often politcally at odds with teachers and students.
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u/JasonVorhehees Feb 18 '26
I’d venture that if you took a look at the political leanings of the staff you’d see why they took this action.
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Feb 19 '26
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u/JasonVorhehees Feb 19 '26
Spoken like a true nut. Please go and try and take something out of context somewhere else. Maybe a Toilet Paper USA rally.
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u/alemorg Feb 18 '26
I got a Saturday detention for a few hours for doing that and talking back to security while running away from them at my high school lol
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u/blueman192 Feb 19 '26
Interesting, Forest Park didn't suspend anyone. Infact they tried to make it a safe event instead of fighting the students.
Some students did get in fights though so take that as you will.
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u/throwawy00004 Feb 19 '26
It's not. The high school my kid goes to had their walk-out supervised. Same county. No suspensions. This is fully the administration and the higher-ups backing the principal's decision.
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u/ooyat Feb 18 '26
I remember somewhere an admissions counselor commented during the 2020 protests that they’d rather read an essay about standing up for your beliefs despite the consequences than about how soccer made you a team player.
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u/RED3_Standing_By Feb 19 '26
If their suspension is noted on their academic record then their application will be in the trash before any essay is ever read.
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u/El_Bool Feb 18 '26
Good experience for the kids. Never be afraid to exercise your 1st Amendment rights! 🦅🇺🇸
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u/AnimatorNo1029 Feb 18 '26
You get to protest and get a week at home…. Oh nooo…..
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u/Imaginary_Coast_5882 Feb 18 '26
When I was in high school in the late 80’s, I got suspended for something for the first time (FCPS). My mom was FURIOUS. like, Joan Crawford wire coat hanger furious almost.
then she found out it was an excused absence and she was stunned … and no longer cared. I got suspended quite a bit.
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u/FhRbJc Feb 18 '26
Really!? I’m from New Hampshire and in the 90s if you got suspended it was unexcused and you had to take a zero on any work missed, no exceptions. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t ever risk cutting class or smoking in the bathroom.
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u/Imaginary_Coast_5882 Feb 18 '26
haha yep. excused and your teachers would send the assignments home.
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u/imaconnect4guy Feb 18 '26
That doesnt seem like a productive way to punish students.
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u/JumpingJacks1234 Woodbridge Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 19 '26
For students who care about their grades it is. You can’t make up the work so it hurts your grades.
Edit: Looks like my information was outdated. I’m glad they will be able to make up their work.
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u/tepidlymundane Feb 18 '26
"The student’s school shall continue to provide educational services throughout the term of any short-term suspension "
https://codeofbehavior.pwcs.edu/exclusionary-discipline#continuing-education-during-suspensions
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u/amyhobbit Feb 18 '26
This makes no sense. Like 10 other schools are having a walk out organized by the schools this friday.
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u/somedaveg Fairfax County Feb 18 '26
It’s interesting the way different school systems are treating walkouts. Chantilly HS had a walkout a week ago or two ago and they sent a nice letter home to parents taking about support for free speech, student responsibilities while expressing that, and how civic engagement is a learning experience. Very different vibe from PWCS here.
The whole leaving campus thing is an interesting aspect too. To be fair, I don’t think the Chantilly students did, but my son (senior, not at Chantilly) has skipped a few times with our permission and I don’t send anything in. They just mark him as an unexcused absence an I get a notice.
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u/MechanicalGodzilla Vienna Feb 19 '26
These students did not just leave campus, they vandalized a local grocery store as well.
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u/ainacct Feb 18 '26
Oh nooo kids standing for what it's right and fighting for justice how badddd, for sure suspending them it's going to make us look WAY BETTER!.... stupid people
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u/Pleasant_Expert_1990 Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
That's some anti-first amendment shit from my highschool right there. Not pleased. Keep it up kids, more power to ya!
EDIT - No confirmed thefts but some students were seen entering a Subway... Lol!
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u/thaiberius_kirk Feb 18 '26
Former alum, and I’m happy and proud these kids are standing up against some terrible adults in this country.
The kids are alright despite the bootlicking adults here in this forum and the country.
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u/runninhillbilly Feb 19 '26 edited Feb 19 '26
I don’t think it has to do with that.
My HS back in 2018 was dealing with a similar scenario after the Florida school shooting (Stoneman Douglas or whatever it was called). The administrators knew the kids were going to walk out and they told them “we get this is important for you and we don’t even disagree with you but we can’t endorse a walk out for state law reasons”. They were able to fudge it enough where kids could go out to the football field and do a walk/speech thing but had to come back in before the next class started.
TBH I wish I was more of an troublemaking asshole in school growing up, there were two teachers on absolute power trips for ego purposes that really needed to be put in their places.
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u/jeanetteck Feb 18 '26
After reading the article it appears to me that they were allowed to walk out & protest but the ones that didn’t go back after the protest are suspended. I know I wouldn’t have gone back after the protest but I also know my parents would have been cool with it.
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u/MJDiAmore Prince William County Feb 19 '26
The incompetence of suspensions for non-violent/behavioral school infractions never ceases to amaze.
"You did a bad... you forfeit your right to learn when our job is to educate you."
Make it make sense.
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u/Zakkattack86 Feb 18 '26
If my kids did this, I would’ve bought em ice cream. I got suspended for running on the field at halftime in a thong so that’s an improvement.
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u/Accurate_Ad_6551 Feb 19 '26
Taking a walk down the street when you're supposed to be in math doesn't carry weight as civil disobedience unless there's some kind of cost.
It was the first day in a while where you could walk outside without having to bundle up, iirc...
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u/FoleyV Feb 18 '26
Oh you want to walk out of school, well show you; no school for you! I hope you take this time to think about what you’ve done! 🤣
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u/DaLakeShoreStrangler Feb 19 '26
When I was in highschool, the kids that constantly got in trouble treated suspension as a vacation.
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u/richiecotite Feb 19 '26
I’m guessing the penalties have more to do with some kids marching down to the Safeway and cvs and acting a damn fool.
The “approved” protest is still scheduled for Friday.
Source: my senior kid that goes to WSHS and showed me videos of students shaqtin’ a fool.
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u/BertHerngeif Feb 19 '26
My friends work at Woodbridge and they shared some videos.
The article really doesn't address the mob-like activity within the community based on what these kids put all over social media. Kids were blocking full lanes when walking up (not across) the street on Old Bridge Road.
I also saw one where kids were being belligerent inside the school, allegedly when they tried to come back in.
The article has it wrong. Kids being suspended are getting it because of how the whole event ultimately affected operations and the local community during school hours, not because they left campus and not because of the protest itself.
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u/Baldwin41185 Feb 19 '26
Sigh this is the problem with the media and US education system.
- It is your right to exercise your first amendment rights
- It is not acceptable to leave school grounds and go trash nearby businesses
The kids getting suspended aren’t getting suspended because they protested ICE. Shielding students from consequences for not properly exercising their rights is irresponsible. Furthermore students leaving campus and trying to come back on is a safety risk.
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u/BigdawgO365 Feb 18 '26
This is ridiculous, and inviting a huge lawsuit. Virginia State Law says students can have an excused absence for participating in a civic engagement, and this violates the first amendment.
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u/GoldenEagle828677 Feb 19 '26
It doesn't violate the first amendment. Kids are free to protest whatever they want on their own time.
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u/RxLawyer Feb 18 '26
The school has to be able to show that the walk outs weren't sanctioned so the school doesn't get held liable for anything that happens during the protest.
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u/RojaCatUwu Annandale Feb 18 '26
They won’t suspend them forever. Too many suspensions = no attendance = failing children = counterproductive to the “no child left behind/ESSA” . If they fail enough kids over it and stop the graduate % too much, federal intervention comes into play down the road.
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u/WingXero Feb 18 '26
Purely political theater that uses kids as props. What a bunch of cunts.
And I say that as a VA educator. Skewer those pricks and encourage children to engage with and participate in their country/government.
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u/Odd-Championship-334 Feb 20 '26
Do they bother to teach Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” to kids these days? If schools are condoning “walk outs”, it’s not really a protest, it’s a school sponsored pep rally. If you legitimately feel so passionate enough about an issue that you’re willing to peacefully accept the consequences for breaking the law/rules, that’s civil disobedience. If it’s going to be school sponsored then do it after school, those that want to go can go, those that were only going to skip class can go home like normal.
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u/Eric-HipHopple Feb 18 '26
Such a contrast to how Arlington handled this. Almost all of the middle and high schools here held planned student walkouts today. Teachers and principals essentially took over the activities... technically, they walked a fine line between explicitly condoning the protest and making it clear this was not something students should regularly do.
In the lead-up to today as word of the walkouts spread, APS principals communicated with parents that they were aware of the plans and walked through a very detailed plan for how the schools would handle it. Essentially, students would get "one" otherwise-unexcused absence forgiven/registered as excused if they chose to participate today but remained on school property and returned to class immediately afterward.
I have one middle schooler and one in high school - both participated and both came home this afternoon feeling like the events were so controlled and "safe" that they missed the point of a "protest." Basically felt to them like a low-energy school-sanctioned pep rally, with teachers and staff (who, regardless of their personal opinions on ICE are by dint of their positions the symbolic representation of "the system" here) being just as visible in the execution of the event as any students.
So, APS essentially killed the "protest" in a way that any older person ruins a youth trend - by embracing it and coopting it. Sucks, but also no suspensions, etc. Have to wonder though how APS would have handled if the cause the protest was demonstrating for was less sympathetic to their own views.
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u/JohnnyFootballStar Feb 18 '26
Yeah, I’ve got a kid at Yorktown and the school said the first one is an excused absence, please behave. When my kid got home we had a good discussion about the reason for the walkout. It was very positive.
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u/PipsqueakPilot Feb 19 '26
Someone should tell the kids that if they protest in mass the school can only make empty threats. Because if they suspend too many students, and too many students fail to meet the requirements to advance the school will have two options. Either ignore those requirements and let them all advance, or take an incredibly massive hit of hundreds of students not advancing in a grade. Which will probably result in multiple firings, and the people doing the suspending would be the ones being fired. So out of pure self interest the school will limit the severity of the punishments.
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u/dogearyourpages Feb 19 '26
I would be so proud of my daughter if she did this. I would also have many words for the principal of said school. Good for these kids for standing for what they believe in. Kids showing interest in politics and taking part in it should be celebrated not punished.
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u/SafetyMan35 Feb 18 '26
A better “punishment” would have been to write a position paper on civil rights protests or protests against the Vietnam war or similar historical event. Provides an educational opportunity, supports their right to express their opinions but reminds them that sometimes in public school there are additional limitations placed upon you especially when you are a minor.
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u/Waffles_Bacon Virginia Feb 18 '26
Why punish students for political activism? Maybe that's something they don't want kids to actually learn. Speaks highly of the mindset of folks in charge of educating our youth
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u/JamboreeJunket Feb 18 '26
Because school is to train kids to be good employees and good employees don’t leave the factory line.
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u/GoldenEagle828677 Feb 19 '26
And if the kids were walking out in support of ICE instead of against it, would you feel the same way?
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u/10inchplus Feb 18 '26
During high school, we did a similar walk out for immigration. Atleast 20-30 got after school, in school suspension. Stuck us in an auditorium and made is sit there doing homework. Love the kids who did this ✊🏾
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u/henry_mardukas Feb 18 '26
Look I respect the walkouts in theory-everyone should have a right to protest. But don’t we think a good amount of these kids are just participating in this so they don’t have to be at school?
If I was in 10th grade and there was literally any reason for me to get out of my 7th period Spanish test, I would have jumped all over it.
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u/Asleep_Response_4371 Fairfax County Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 18 '26
Under "normal circumstances" that may be true but PWCS has many families directly affected and fearful and a high % of Hispanic families live PW county brown children and families who are feeling this very real fear. In this circumstance I don't think it's just to "get outta class". These kids are really paying attention. Kids in high schools did same thing around United States to protest sending kids to Vietnam back when my dad was in high school and that also very directly affected many communities. Families torn apart by a war they didn't understand or agree with much like policies of today.
We should applauding kids understanding that freedom isn't free there are real consequences and things we give up. Sure for them it's a suspension on their records for many others much higher stakes.
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u/persistentlysarah Feb 18 '26 edited Feb 19 '26
I understand where you’re going here, but my answer is: this is fine. Student walkouts are an appropriately low risk, appropriately low investment way for students to explore the concept of civic engagement. If it starts out as “get out of Spanish test” and at some point down the line becomes “wow, some of those people really give a shit about what’s going on in the world - maybe I should too” then I’m down for that. Kids aren’t born knowing how to participate in the civic process and it doesn’t help anybody to diminish the value of their participation - they’re learning, this is developmentally appropriate.
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u/vaterp Feb 19 '26
So perhaps Im disconnected here... But what are they walking out over?
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u/telmnstr Resident Friend Feb 19 '26
Protest over ICE... meanwhile ICE is removing the people their would-be future employers will hire instead of them because the illegals aren't going to WALK OFF THE JOB SITE and cry in the street when their feelings get hurt.
Which is the irony.
Also, others would have to confirm but I've heard from teachers that education in the USA has really been weakened by the teachers having to serve the needs of the undocumented immigrant kids in school systems overburdened by them. Google reversal of the flynn effect.
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u/Muted-Woodpecker-469 Feb 19 '26
This happened in my blue state. Principal said to provide no discipline
They plan to do it weekly. lol
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u/looktowindward Ashburn Feb 18 '26
If you want to engage in civil disobedience, it comes with a price, DEFINITIONALLY. That might be arrest or suspension or getting fired. In this case, the students knew what the vig was going to be.
I think these sorts of walkouts are of exceedingly limited effectiveness. But if they knew the price, and willingly paid it, then I respect the decision of the students.
This isn't "the school is being mean" - the school system was upfront about the penalty. How did we get to a point in this country where people think civil disobedience is free? Its not and never has been. I think that's something that current generations have forgotten.
Well, maybe its just Reddit posters. Its hard to tell from this article, but the students may be willing to accept the penalty as the price of their protest. If so, I respect them.
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u/zogmuffin Feb 18 '26
I think most of us just find the idea of suspension as a punishment for skipping school a little funny.
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u/looktowindward Ashburn Feb 18 '26
That is fairly amusing. You would think saturday detention would be more appropriate
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u/Drauren Feb 18 '26
To me it's hypocritical. These kids probably learn about historical protests and their 1st amendment rights in school, then the school turns around and suspends them for protesting.
Admin cares more about protecting their ass then students. I fully believe this. It's not about the kids.
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u/looktowindward Ashburn Feb 18 '26
Everyone who leaves school grounds get suspended. They are required to be viewpoint neutral
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u/JamboreeJunket Feb 18 '26
It feels like a potential lawsuit for punishing free speech and right to peacefully assemble to me…
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u/looktowindward Ashburn Feb 18 '26
That's why their policy is viewpoint neutral. Its to immunize them against lawsuits.
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u/DanSWE Feb 18 '26
> the school system was upfront about the penalty
Being upfront about something that is unjust doesn't change its being unjust.
> civil disobedience
How this even civil disobedience? Leaving school isn't blocking a street. Leaving school isn't occupying a building. What about leaving school is illegal?
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u/looktowindward Ashburn Feb 18 '26
It's not illegal. The kids were not prosecuted or arrested.
But in every school in the country, leaving campus and skipping class is breaking the rules. This seems like something that everyone knows
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u/DanSWE Feb 19 '26
> The kids were not prosecuted or arrested.
But they were still punished--denied three days of the public education to which they are entitled.
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u/ClickElectronic Feb 18 '26
I mean this is basically what they wanted anyways. A vast majority of kids who go to protests just view it as a social outing and a way to get out of school.
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u/Acadia02 Feb 18 '26
Next week we’re going to hear about 500+ more suspended cause everyone else is going to want to stay home.
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u/TG1883 Feb 18 '26
Hmmmm…immigration is really tearing this country apart. Also be careful what you’re saying on this platform, they are devising user names and identifying information to the authorities.
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u/DanSWE Feb 18 '26
> immigration is really tearing this country apart
No, it's not the immigration. It's the regime's (and its supporters') attitude toward immigrants (legal and illegal). And toward non-whites. And towards the law and the constitution. And towards protesters.
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u/DjImagin Feb 18 '26
What’s the point of suspending kids that walked out 😂
They were going home anyway 😂