Clear path for protests: Minneapolis Public Schools cancels classes following officer-involved shooting

Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) announced it will close schools for the remainder of the week following a fatal law-enforcement shooting involving a woman federal officials say weaponized her car.

“Out of an abundance of caution, there will be no school on Thursday, Jan. 8 and Friday, Jan. 9 due to safety concerns related to today’s incidents around the city,” said MPS. “All MPS-sponsored programs, activities, athletics and Community Education classes, including adult education, will be canceled. The district will not move to e-learning because that is only allowable for severe weather.”

Officials said the closures were necessary because of uncertainty surrounding demonstrations, law-enforcement activity and transportation logistics in multiple parts of Minneapolis. 

The shooting, which occurred earlier this week, was not directed at a school and did not involve students or school personnel. 

Nonetheless, district leaders said the broader security environment made it difficult to guarantee safe ingress, egress and daily operations at school buildings. 

Later, media outlets began to report that the closings were also due to an incident at a nearby high school where members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were seen.  

While it was originally represented as an incident at the high school, which is just 2 miles away from the scene of the shooting, it apparently had nothing to do with the high school itself. 

In an email to families on Wednesday, Roosevelt High School Principal Christian Ledesma said the school implemented a lockout after law enforcement activity occurred outside the building following regular dismissal,” reported local Minnesota Public Radio. “Ledesma said the activity involved a vehicle that stopped near the school and that staff and students observed officers interacting with individuals near the campus.” 

Democrat Gov. Tim Walz jumped on the narrative, to take a swipe at ICE and the Trump administration.  

“I can’t say this strong enough as governor, as a parent, as a teacher. To our elected representatives, Democrats and Republicans: I beg you, I implore you to tell them to stay out of our schools,” he said about ICE, according to local CBS News. “This tragedy will be magnified a hundredfold if this fight moves into the hallways of our public schools amongst our youth.” 

While framed as a precautionary measure, the shutdown has immediate secondary effects that alter the protest landscape in the city.  

With schools closed, tens of thousands of students are no longer commuting and school buses are off the streets. 

Morning and afternoon traffic patterns tied to school schedules have been eliminated, freeing up roadways and public spaces that are typically congested during the school day. 

The absence of students and staff from school campuses also removes a major constraint on crowd movement. 

Schools often serve as informal boundaries during demonstrations, requiring additional law-enforcement resources to secure buildings and manage pedestrian flow.  

With campuses closed, that allows demonstrators to roam freely, and potentially teachers’ unions will be free to help organize protestors.  

Teachers were an integral part of the network that helped organize protests in June 2020 in Minneapolis when George Floyd was killed. 

“This is no time for us to look away,” NEA President Lily Eskelsen García said at the time. “Police violence against black people happens too often. The threat and real violence toward black people daring to exist in public spaces and even in their own homes is the direct result of how white supremacy culture is the air we breathe in America.” 

She was joined by the head of the teachers’ union in Minnesota.  

“This is a horrifying, senseless death that shows once again the racism that black, brown, and indigenous Minnesotans live with every day,” said Denise Specht, the president of Education Minnesota. 

The rhetoric matches comments made by Democrats around the country regarding ICE deportations in 2025. 

This year, Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker claimed ICE was “just picking up people who are brown and black,” for deportation checks.  

Minnesota’s Walz called ICE agents Trump’s “modern-day gestapo.”