School City of East Chicago students scheduled to work the Chicago Marathon Sunday morning will be given a different chance for service hours after the district canceled the field trip.
SCEC administrators late Saturday evening announced in a social media post that “Due to an abundance of caution, the School City of East Chicago is cancelling the Chicago Marathon Service Learning Field Trip scheduled for Sunday, October 12, 2025.” The release cited “student and staff safety” as the reason “during these uncertain times.”
“We know that this would have been a great opportunity for our students to earn service hours, but we will support East Chicago Central High School administration in finding another opportunity for those students to earn those hours,” the release said.
One SCEC Board Trustee, Jesse Gomez, commented that “So many of our students, parents and teachers are disappointed,” at the cancellation.
“Palatine High School is sending 64 students. Benito Juarez High School is sending a group as well. Those are just two of many high schools participating throughout the entire Marathon course,” Gomez wrote. “I applaud all those high schools that have the courage to do the right thing!”
Another trustee, Mercedez Mena-Taylor, commented that she “fully supported the decision.
“Prioritizing the safety of both our children and our staff is not just our priority, it’s our responsibility!!!” she wrote.
East Chicago is the second school district to exercise caution due to the federal immigration enforcement effort, Operation Midway Blitz, in the last two weeks. School Town of Highland school officials canceled two outdoor eighth grade field trips to Chicago’s Millennium Park out of caution due to possible ICE activity and protests, the Post-Tribune previously reported.
Highland Superintendent Brian Smith added that the Millennium Park trip was a planned language arts writing exercise that meshed with state standards. Kids would see the park and the Bean sculpture and write about their observations.
The outdoor nature of the field trip is what worried school officials, he said.
“It’s not that we won’t ever go back to Chicago. We wouldn’t have been worried about museums. As educators, we try to control the environment. So, we said, ‘let’s pivot, give them a safe environment’.”
In recent weeks, protests against President Trump’s immigration policies and actions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have escalated, but primarily at an immigrant detention center in Broadview, a village in Cook County about 12 miles west of Chicago. During other protests in Broadview, federal agents deployed chemical agents to stem demonstrations during their operations in the Chicago area.
Trump has also repeatedly threatened to send federal National Guard troops to Chicago, triggering anger and pushback from Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Freelance reporter Carole Carlson contributed.
Michelle L. Quinn is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.