Some students in Colorado's high country say a climate of fear is impacting their education
One day after the raid of a Frisco restaurant by immigration agents, students in Colorado's Summit County say a climate of fear is impacting their education.
The Summit County School District recorded an average drop of about 30% of students attending schools district-wide as rumors swirled about possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the community.
Teachers and students at Summit High School on Wednesday said not a lot of learning happened on Tuesday once the news started to spread about the raid at Hacienda Real. They told CBS Colorado that some students cheered the nearby presence of federal immigration agents, some students expressed sadness about it and some left class all together.
After the start of the raid, Summit County School District Superintendent Dr. Tony Byrd was among the people who came to the Mexican restaurant and took part in a makeshift protest.
"Can't learn. There's no way. I mean, honestly, it's just a matter of trying to keep people calm enough to make it through the day. The kids can't focus," Byrd said.
The situation sent ripples inside school walls across the county located in Colorado's mountains.
"Clearly phones are going off and students are running around the hallways. There's a lot of emotion. I see teachers running out trying to figure out what's going on," said Social Studies teacher Myles Stolier.
"Students were crying, calling the parents, leaving early," said Henry Billinghurst, a senior at the high school. "There was great concern about needing the teachers to harbor other students that were needing refuging.
It was the culmination of the anxiety some students told CBS they're living with every day.
"As a Hispanic, as a Latino, we don't think 'Oh yeah, today I am going to go think about math," said Yurem Riestra, a senior at Summit High School. "We think 'Am I going to go home to the ones that I love? Are my friends going to go home to the ones that they love?' We don't know that."
It's not just attendance taking a dive. Teachers argue federal agent presence effectively shut down learning.
"Who knows how the comprehension and retention went after that?" Stolier said.
A failure to learn lessons while some students beg for new understanding from the world they live in.
"We want to be seen as people, not aliens, not creatures. We want to fit in with the community but as of today we don't fit in as a community because they see us as a different kind of persona. And it sucks, it really sucks to be a Hispanic right now," Riestra said.
Some students at the high school also held a walkout against gun violence, like students at many other schools in the state.
So far immigration authorities have not shared details about their search in Hacienda Real.
