{"id":99360,"date":"2026-02-19T10:34:03","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:34:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/?p=99360"},"modified":"2026-02-19T10:34:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T16:34:29","slug":"stitt-praises-suspension-of-students-in-walkout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/2026\/02\/19\/stitt-praises-suspension-of-students-in-walkout\/","title":{"rendered":"Stitt Praises Suspension of Students in Walkout"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Gov. Kevin Stitt applauded an Oklahoma City-area school district for suspending 122 students who staged a walkout against federal immigration enforcement tactics earlier this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYoung Oklahomans: Free speech is sacred, but truancy robs your future. Stay in school, build skills, and make your voice heard responsibly,\u201d Stitt, a Republican, posted on social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Mustang Public Schools confirmed Wednesday it assigned in-school suspension to students for committing unexcused absences during the walkout, not for the content of their speech. High school students across the state, including in Mustang, have walked out of class this month to hold protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement\u2019s controversial mass deportation effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The walkouts&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/oklahomavoice.com\/2026\/02\/12\/republican-lawmakers-call-for-investigation-of-oklahoma-student-walkouts\/\">have drawn criticism from some Republican legislators<\/a>, who complained not only of student truancy but that the demonstrations were \u201cpolitically charged.\u201d They called for teaching licenses to be revoked from any educators involved in organizing the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State Superintendent Lindel Fields and Stitt\u2019s education secretary, Dan Hamlin, said they found no evidence that school staff helped plan any of the demonstrations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Social media claims of adult involvement in Mustang\u2019s Feb. 5 walkout weren\u2019t found to be credible, either, district leadership said. The walkout was student-led, and those involved were punished according to district policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Truancy in Mustang schools is punishable by detention, suspension or other consequences, according to the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/resources.finalsite.net\/images\/v1761078207\/mustangpsorg\/hkgnikfrzihp07qviwwg\/MPSPoliciesandProcedures10132025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">district\u2019s discipline manual<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cStudent safety remains our highest priority, and our decisions were made with that responsibility in mind,\u201d the district stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a joint statement last week, Fields and Hamlin said students who leave a school campus without permission should be addressed according to locally adopted policies. Educators present during on-campus demonstrations are \u201cexpected to ensure safety and order and not to participate in political advocacy,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur state\u2019s public schools are legally obligated to respect students\u2019 constitutional rights to free speech while also maintaining safe and orderly learning environments for all students,\u201d Fields and Hamlin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Nuria Martinez-Keel, Oklahoma Voice OKLAHOMA CITY \u2014 Gov. Kevin Stitt applauded an Oklahoma City-area school district for suspending 122 students who staged a walkout against federal immigration enforcement tactics earlier this month. \u201cYoung Oklahomans: Free speech is sacred, but truancy robs your future. Stay in school, build skills, and make your voice heard responsibly,\u201d [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8368],"tags":[1098,7539,5361],"class_list":["post-99360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oknews","tag-immigration","tag-kevin-stitt","tag-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99360\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kcnonline.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}