The ICE Protest January 30, 2026
By: Nitzaliah Festinger

As we all know, classes were canceled on Friday, January 30th, due to the lack of teachers, many of whom went to the ICE protest downtown. But while this was inherently a good cause, was the impact positive or negative? Opinions are mixed.

In early January, the downtown “ICE Out” protest was established, and scheduled for Friday, the 30th. Around the week leading up to this, teachers began calling in to use their sick days either to support the cause, or attend the protest themselves, and students were encouraged to take the day off as well. By January 29th keeping school open for the day seemed useless, and it was nearly canceled, but last-minute the superintendent decided to keep it open. The main downside to school closing was that this would take away access to food and shelter provided by the school, which many families rely on.

During interviews G.W. teachers had mixed feelings about educators being responsible for being at work so the school could stay open for these essential services. Mr. Grassler said “My job and opinion is to keep you safe and if part of that is to keep you fed and healthy then you should be here.” Additionally stating, “I feel as a teacher my job was to set a good example for my students. I feel as a teacher I should have never encouraged you to go near a mob because those can be dangerous.” Whereas Mr. Parker argued that it’s “insidious to tie teachers’ willingness to protest draconian measures to children eating.” Adding, “I guess my question would be what’s greater at stake here? Food for one day versus masked men on the streets kidnapping citizens and non-citizens alike?” So while it can be upsetting that teachers should have to choose between showing up for their students, and fighting for what they believe, they ultimately still had to make that decision. Schools typically are required to close when they are missing 20% of faculty. Similarly to Mr. Parker, Mr. Singer highlighted the importance of the “message that was sent to our community and protecting our community.”, and also said “I know the school stayed open for essential services kids who may have needed food.” So at the end of the day, teachers had to decide which issue was more important.

Another concern regarding the protest was that students attended it. Again, teachers had mixed reviews about this. On one hand Mr. Parker said “I think it’s awesome that students are using their voice, first amendment rights while we still have them.” Additionally, Mr. Singer said “I think it’s great students are standing up and having a voice”. On the other hand Mr. Grassler expressed his safety concerns stating, “I think it’s dangerous and I believe your parents by in large do not want you anywhere near that because of the possibility of harm.”

When prompted further on what Singer thought of the violent nature that can occur at these protests, he said “ I think that’s always a concern at any kind of protest”, but later added, “I think we can’t shy away from making our voices heard, because if we shy away from it people in positions of power will do whatever they want.” Mr. Parker however, fully disagrees that there is often a violent nature to protests such as this one. So, while some believe this protest was good for students to attend, others believe that the safety concerns should have been thought through more carefully.

All in all, people enjoyed the protest, students received food and shelter – although it was nearly not provided, and was delayed -no one was harmed in the process. This time, nothing bad happened, but considering the risks, there is still the question of how the situation should’ve been handled.

Sources:

Crowd gathers at Denver park to protest ICE during national general strike

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ICAyFAwA8SaUCiPJDU_piMKAWPho6XLz
https://www.cpr.org/2026/01/30/ice-out-colorado-protests/