In a protest that administrators said would result in unexcused absences, students left eStem High School and protested in Downtown Little Rock on Wednesday.
FROM the THV11 News Room
Author: Carter Thweatt
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – On Wednesday, a group of high school students walked out of school and through the streets of Little Rock to protest immigration enforcement.
A group of around 100 students gathered in the courtyard of eStem High School in east Little Rock, while a smaller group of around forty left and marched through the streets of downtown Little Rock.
“It’s never wrong to stand up for what you think is right and speak your mind and make sure you get your point across,” one student said.
The students were accompanied by officers from the Little Rock Police Department, with one of the officers stating that they just wanted to keep students safe.
Students chanted and waved signs that were made with whatever they could find.
While their methods were different, the message was the same.
“We’ve seen White people, Black people, Hispanic people, Asian people- we’ve seen everybody get affected by this,” Naysa, another student, said.
A quick check of social media shows that eStem wasn’t the only school that could have a walkout.
Bryant Schools said in a Facebook post that they’re aware of posts advertising a walkout for Thursday, but this activity is not endorsed by Bryant Schools and they expect students to remain in class.
On Wednesday, Little Rock Central High School sent a message to parents stating that a short demonstration took place during a regularly scheduled fire drill.
“This activity was uneventful, closely supervised, and did not disrupt instructional time,” Nancy Rousseau, the schools principal, said. “The activity remained orderly, and in line with our priority of maintaining a safe and respectful learning environment for all students.”
Meanwhile, eStem’s CEO said they also don’t have a position on the protests, but they support their students’ interest in democracy.
Students said they encountered little resistance in protesting.
“Administration and the teachers were actually told to stay out of our way and let us do this,” Luke, a student protesting downtown, said. “They had to act like they didn’t want us to do it, but they let us out.”
A spokesperson for eStem later made it clear that students walked out on their own, and any who left campus received an unexcused absence.
This complies with the Arkansas ACCESS Act that Governor Sanders signed in 2025, which states that students who engage in political protest can’t get an excused absence for it.
For the full story from THV11: Little Rock students walk out of school to protest ICE
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