Profanity, Protests, and Poor Test Scores: The Uncomfortable Truth About Maryland’s ICE Walkout

By John Huber, MarylandK12.com

By any measure, Maryland saw a wave of student walkouts over immigration enforcement the first week of February. Students in Baltimore City marched from City College to Pearlstone Park; others at the Baltimore School of the Arts joined. In Baltimore County, students poured out of Kenwood, Woodlawn, Towson, Dulaney and Dundalk and more actions followed. Districts emphasized students’ rights to peaceful assembly while reminding families that school rules still govern safety and disruption. This acknowledgement that school rules apply created a situation where the school may be held accountable when things go wrong; and they did.

What made this story go from a routine protest to a statewide debate was where some of the organizing surfaced. One Instagram carousel from Eastern Technical High School, long ranked at or near the top of Maryland’s public high schools, showed students holding profanity-laced placards aimed at ICE, alongside other signs such as “No one is illegal on stolen land,” and “Free Palestine.”  This dilutes the message far beyond immigration enforcement.

Eastern Tech: A Top School, Off-Message Signs

Let’s be clear about Eastern Tech. It’s an academic powerhouse that can handpick its own students: U.S. News’ 2025 list put it #1 in Maryland and top-150 nationally; the school reports sky-high ELA and science proficiency and ≥95% graduation. Seeing a protest staged on that campus doesn’t indicate its academics; it spotlights a judgment question by organizers choosing the school day as the stage. The profane messages such as “Fuck Ice” and “Fuck Trump” should concern parents and stakeholders regarding how their school is perceived.

Dundalk High: The Schools That Can’t Afford to Miss Class

Now compare that to Dundalk High, a school that cannot hand select its own students, where the data is grim. Niche’s rollup of Maryland’s 2023–24 statewide testing shows about 25% proficient in reading and just 5% in math at Dundalk. In other words, three out of four students aren’t meeting ELA proficiency, and nineteen out of twenty aren’t in math. When a school fights that far uphill, every lost instructional hour matters. What message does that school send when so many students do not pass proficiency and are chronically absent yet find time for this.

Statewide MCAP results show the urgency. In 2024–25, Maryland reported roughly 50.8% proficient in ELA and 26.5% in math, and those are statewide averages with wide gaps among districts and schools. Any policy conversation about missing class should start with these baselines.

What Baltimore County Rules Say, In Plain English

Baltimore County Public Schools publishes an annual Student Handbook with a Code of Conduct. Three items jump off the page for the walkouts:

• Leaving school grounds without permission (1d).
• Unexcused absence/truancy from class or classes (1g).
• Participating in or inciting a school disruption (2d).

Per the handbook, Category 1 offenses can result in suspension, and Category 2 offenses can rise to extended suspension or expulsion, depending on severity and repeated behavior. The rules as written are explicit, even though the district affirms students’ rights to expression. The key is: rights do not erase rules during the school day, and they do not come with no consequences.

Baltimore City and County spokespeople said as much last week: students may assemble peacefully, but actions violating the Handbook draw “appropriate consequences.” In practice, most students returned to class after brief demonstrations; one county walkout even included a student arrest at the Carver Center for a student who moved the protest into a public intersection. By providing students with permission to assemble, even though they said there may be consequences, the school placed itself in a very difficult situation legally.

Slogans and Message Drift

Some signs were on target (“ICE policies,” “detention conditions”). Others veered into entirely different territory (“Free Palestine”), or into crude and profane statements and provocation. If the aim is persuading Maryland lawmakers on specific immigration bills, dissolving into an all-issues-at-once rally muddles the case and, frankly, hands critics an easy counterargument: this isn’t about school or state policy, it’s about skipping class.

“No One Is Illegal on Stolen Land.” Fine, Then Name the Land.

If students want to invoke land acknowledgments, let’s be factual. The Baltimore region’s older homelands are associated with Piscataway, Susquehannock, and Nanticoke peoples, among others with historic ties to Maryland. For anyone eager to return their rowhouse, apartment, or cul-de-sac to its “rightful owners,” here’s the official government agency they can contact: the Maryland Commission on Indian Affairs (MCIA) within the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives. They coordinate with state-recognized tribes and Indigenous organizations and can get you in touch with the Native American Tribe where your house sits so you can give it back. Sarcasm aside, they also do serious preservation and education work.

The Bottom Line

Maryland’s math proficiency sits in the mid‑20s statewide, with vast pockets far below that, Dundalk High’s 5% math proficiency tells the story in one number. ELA is better than math but still not where a competitive state needs it to be. The opportunity cost of skipping class grows with each missing decimal place of proficiency and each additional day of chronic absenteeism. Protests can happen, after school, on weekends, or in forums that don’t disrupt instruction.

Adults in the room

District leaders, principals, teachers, and yes, legislators should do two things at once: (1) apply the handbook consistently so rules mean something, and (2) teach civic action well, capitalizing on student passion and turning it into policy, hearings, testimony, and meetings with the officials who actually write the laws. Even Baltimore City and County’s statements last week made that balance explicit: protect speech, keep students safe, and don’t let demonstrations swallow the school day.

We have not seen the last of this.  Students now know they can do this free of consequences in most cases, and they will do it again.  The next time, it will be a pro ice walkout.  Then there will come a multitude of others on all sides of every argument.  Maybe not, but remember, you heard it here first.