What exactly happened on February 20th, 2026? This and many more questions and concerns were brought up at Thursday’s meeting of the Quakertown Community School District. Residents packed into the chamber of the QCSD. This led to board member David O’Donnell stating, “we were right,” when he explained that an expected large turnout was the reason for moving up the public comments section at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting. Before diving into the impassioned public comments delivered by residents, it’s worth examining the events from last week to understand the public’s frustrations.
Students at Quakertown Community High School had been planning a walkout for the week of February 20th to protest the local police’s cooperation with ICE, a federal immigration enforcement agency. This is not an idea that is new to this generation of students, or even the area. In fact, many schools across the country have had students participate in various forms of protest, including walkouts, against this administration’s immigration policies.
With February being Black History Month, it would be wise to remember the clashes between white students, their parents, and law enforcement officers, and black students, parents, and sympathetic white residents, after Brown v Board of Education led to the integration of public schools. The faint echoes of Kent State University and the death of four students during nationwide protests against the Vietnam War ring across the Borough of Quakertown. The intent of the students at Quakertown Community High School was not to have their voices silenced, but rather to be heard and supported among their community by expressing their first amendment rights.
However, on the night of February 19th, a serious threat against the students participating in the walkout was brought to the QCSD Board of Directors and they quickly called a security meeting to discuss a path forward. The decision was made to cancel the walkout to protect students’ safety and wellbeing, and students and families were alerted to this decision the morning of February 20th, the day of the walkout. The decision to suddenly cancel the planned walkout was not taken well.
What transpired later that day would make national headlines. The numbers vary, but around 35 students took the unilateral decision to continue with the walkout and proceeded to leave school grounds and enter the Borough of Quakertown. Board members stated at Thursday’s board meeting that School Resource Officers followed the students out of the school as they walked onto the streets of Quakertown. After complaints of “disruptive behavior” by some residents, Quakertown Borough Police quickly descended on the scene. A group of officers attempted to get some students off of public streets and began detaining them. In what can only be described as a chaotically violent scene, students began to defend themselves against the officers, as they described the officers using excessive force.
It was during this moment of chaos that Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree arrived at the scene. Chief McElree reportedly arrived in an unmarked vehicle wearing plains clothes, with no identifiable signs of being a law enforcement officer. As students scuffled with Quakertown police, Chief McElree began to detain a female student defending herself against the group of officers, and he is photographed putting this student in a chokehold and tackling them to the ground. These images, and other images of violence against students by Quakertown police have caused anger among local residents. At a Quakertown Borough Meeting Monday February 23rd, local residents called for the resignation of Quakertown Police Chief Scott McElree. A lawyer for a 15 year-old student arrested at the event stated his client faces an aggravated assault charge. Five students were arrested February 20th.
It wasn’t until the evening of Thursday, February 26th at the regularly scheduled QCSD board meeting that residents could voice their frustrations during public comments. This was the opportunity for an impassioned group of residents to speak at a packed meeting that lasted almost three hours. Before members of the public could speak, board member David O’Donnell reminded those attending that the Quakertown Borough Police Department is a completely separate entity from the QCSD, emphasizing that the school district is not responsible for the actions of local police.
He also stressed that Quakertown Community High School was working with the Bucks County Intermediate Unit to provide counseling for students. As the public comments began, community members repeated concerns of failure by the school board in providing alternatives to the walkout, with some examples being on school property like the gymnasium.
Richland township resident Michal Rogers hastily and passionately spoke of how he “knew the threat was a gun,” as he let the crowd know he was disappointed with the school not alerting parents to the specificity of Thursday night’s threat. Mr. Rogers felt that the walkout should have been cancelled for fear of violence against the students participating, and he told members of the board that “he did not want politics in his schools.”
Another resident, David Stubanis of Quakertown, told of how he filmed the entire event beginning with the walkout from the high school and during the clash with local police. Mr. Stubanis said he was “disgusted by the egregious failures of this school district.” The Quakertown resident also wanted to know if the board would “cancel the next football game over a threat? Where does it end? Does the school board have a bias?” Echoing residents at Monday’s borough meeting, Quakertown resident Emily Gasparak called for Chief McElree’s resignation. Calls for the chief’s resignation led to audible cheers throughout the night.
With no regard to the residents of Quakertown’s views on immigration, the incident between students at Quakertown Community High School and the Quakertown Borough Police Department has left fresh scars on the local community that will take time and some reconciliation to heal. It is up to the local authorities and those in positions of power, the board members of the QCSD, the teachers, administrators, and parents of the students at Quakertown Community High School, and the Quakertown Borough Police Department to begin the steps to healing these scars that have divided the community.
The anger of the local residents cannot be ignored for long, as the public seeks accountability from local officials. A statement from the ACLU on last Friday’s incident lays bare a central argument of those defending the students’ right to protest: “A police officer’s job is to serve and protect their community; this includes protecting people’s rights.”