Attendance at Los Angeles Unified School District dropped this week amid walkouts and demonstrations in support of immigrants as President Donald Trump ramps up deportation efforts.
LAUSD Supt. Alberto Carvalho at a Tuesday news conference said attendance on the previous day, which many observed as “A Day Without Immigrants,” was 20% lower than a typical Monday.
On the Eastside, several schools experienced significant drops on Monday, according to a tracker on LAUSD’s website. At Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez High School, attendance fell to just 34%. Roosevelt High School had a 32% attendance rate on its main campus, while the Law and Public Service Magnet recorded 40%, and the Math, Science, and Technology Magnet Academy saw 58%.
And, as hundreds of students from across the Eastside walked out of school on Tuesday in protest of federal immigration policies, Carvalho said the district will “continue to monitor attendance this week and [the] days and weeks to come.”
More walkouts are expected in the coming days.
Carvalho stressed that LAUSD campuses are safe zones for workers, students, and parents. He noted that more than 300 of the district’s workforce are beneficiaries of Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, a program that allows migrants from designated countries to reside legally in the U.S. Trump has moved to end these protections.
“They are part of our family. We will fight for their rights. We will protect their rights every single day,” Carvalho said, adding that district staff have been trained and parents “have been empowered with information specific to the rights they possess.”
“I’m asking parents, please send your children to school. The schools are safe,” said Carvalho, adding that, “If you feel that you are at risk, empower someone else in your family or a neighbor. Include that person in the contact card for the school so that person has the authority to drop off … and pick up the child.”
“Depriving children of their education by keeping them home away from school does not help anyone. We are here to support you,” he added. “All of our campuses are safe zones.”
