What records show about Poudre School District’s role in student ICE walkouts

By RMV Staff

Nearly half of Lesher Middle School’s 766 students walked out of class on Feb. 2 to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of a wave of student demonstrations that Poudre School District says it neither encouraged nor discouraged. PSD is among the 10 largest school systems in Colorado.

Emails and internal records reviewed by RMV suggest the situation may not have been as hands-off as described.

What happened during the walkouts

Over the following week, other district schools followed Lesher Middle School’s (LMS) lead, as nearly 900 6th–8th graders from over half of the district’s neighborhood middle schools and approximately 1,000 high school students walked out of class to protest ICE. 

Students left school property, marched along Fort Collins city streets, and waved signs reading “Melt ICE,” “I Prefer My ICE Crushed,” “ICE = Gestapo,” and “Abolish ICE.”

Images published by The Coloradoan show students holding those signs during protests across multiple Fort Collins schools, including middle and high school campuses.

Poudre School District (PSD) told Fox News that it did not encourage or discourage the protests, said students received unexcused absences for skipping class and reinforced its commitment to being a place “where all students feel safe, respected, and supported, and where learning remains our central focus.”

A review of district policies and actions suggests a different story.

Emails and timing raise questions

LMS Principal Don Kotnik emailed school staff and families on Sunday, Feb. 1, alerting them to a student-organized, non-school-sponsored protest planned for the following day.

Public records obtained by RMV show the parent of the student organizer emailed Kotnik thanking him for his support, writing that the student had been told she needed to “clear it with you first.”

RMV asked the district to clarify how the protests were approved, scheduled and supervised. The district did not respond to those questions.

LMS Principal Don Kotnik, in an internal email, pointed to texts among students saying that they were planning “an organized Walk-Out at 11am to protest ICE” in a request for campus security. 

By Sunday afternoon, that timeline had shifted, with a staff email setting the walkout for 12:45 p.m. at the start of fifth period.

Unlike the message sent to families, the announcement to students included specific instructions outlining how they would leave campus and where they would gather.

In that message, administrators told students they would “exit the main doors at 12:45 p.m., walk down Stover to the back gate, and then line up along the inside of our fence on Prospect for safety.”

The records do not show any communication from student organizers about the change, or any coordination with staff, making it unclear who actually set the new time.

What the rules say—and what happened instead

District emails and messages show administrators discussing timing, supervision and logistics ahead of the walkouts, even as the district maintained the events were student-led.

District policy puts schools in charge of student safety during the day and does not allow students to leave campus without permission.

Additional images from the same coverage show middle school students leaving campus and moving onto nearby streets as part of the protests. At Lesher, students walked along public right-of-way areas, while some from Lincoln Middle School were reported to be more than two miles from campus.

RMV asked how many parental permission forms were collected and what options were offered to families who did not want their children to participate. The district did not respond.

Emails and internal messages show the district coordinated with law enforcement to increase security for the protests. The district did not respond when asked whether a formal risk assessment was conducted.

District policy requires supervision and parental permission, but the records do not show how those requirements were applied or enforced in this case.

“As both a parent and a taxpayer, it’s deeply concerning to see schools allow or even encourage minor students to leave campus without clear parental knowledge and consent, especially for politically charged activities,” said Lori Gimelshteyn, Executive Director of the Colorado Parent Advocacy Network. “Schools have a duty of care. There’s a clear line here: schools can educate, but they should not mobilize. And they certainly should not put minors in situations where safety, supervision, and parental rights are compromised.”

Attendance records tell a different story

PSD told Fox News that students who participated in walkouts received unexcused absences. But internal communications from LMS suggest that may not have been applied consistently.

Kotnik told staff to mark students unexcused only if they were not back in class by 1:40 p.m., but did not give clear direction for students who left at 12:45. It’s not clear how participation in the walkout itself was treated.

District policy also requires schools to keep track of attendance and notify parents when absences are unexcused.

The district did not provide any records showing whether those notifications were sent.

Bullying policy raises additional questions

PSD’s bullying policy defines prohibited behavior as “any written or oral expression…that is intended to coerce, intimidate or cause any physical, mental or emotional harm to any student.”

Images from the protests show students holding signs reading “I Like My ICE Crushed,” “Melt ICE,” and messages equating ICE with the Gestapo.

RMV also asked how the district considers the impact of that kind of messaging on students with family members in law enforcement. The district did not explain how it determines whether that kind of messaging violates its policy.

District policies provide additional context

The district’s School Resource Officer agreement states that officers are not permitted to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

A district policy approved Feb. 2—the same day as the Lesher protest—also places limits on interactions with federal immigration authorities.

In an email following the protest, Board President Jessica Zamora thanked Kotnik for prioritizing student well-being and expressed appreciation for students’ “right to protest.”

PSD district policy CF provides PSD principals the authority over the actions of their students and states, “Principals…shall be responsible for and shall have authority over the actions of their students…”  Policy CF goes on to state that PSD principals “…shall be responsible for management…at their schools consistent with…District policies…”  Despite this policy, Kotnik stated in an email on February 3 that “…this (student political demonstration) is something I have no control over.”  

Given the Student Code of Conduct and school policies, it remains unclear how district administrators exercised that authority before and during the protests.

Parents question how protests were handled

Email records obtained by RMV show some parents expressed concern about how the protests were handled, with some saying their children felt pressure to participate.

Those concerns also align with what some parent groups say they’ve been hearing from other families.

“We’ve heard from parents across Colorado, many through formal incident reports via our website, that students were texting them during school hours saying they were being encouraged to walk out of class to participate in anti-ICE protests,” said Gimelshteyn, who also shared that students reported feeling socially pressured into participating in the protests. “Parents are the primary authority in their children’s lives, and they deserve to be informed and involved, especially when it comes to politically sensitive topics.”