The principal and other staff at a Kansas City-area high school simply looked on and failed to intercede as a pair of teen Trump supporters were attacked and at least one was assaulted at a student anti-ICE protest nearby Friday, one of the student’s fathers says.

The assault has garnered national attention. And yet there’s another such protest scheduled for Wednesday, according to the school’s administration.

Bogdan Zaslavsky told KCMO radio talk show host Pete Mundo Tuesday that Olathe Northwest High School Principal Chris Zuck acknowledged in a phone call that he witnessed the anti-ICE student mob actually wait at the stoplight to cross the street and chase after Zaslavsky’s son.

BREAKING: Two students at @olatheschools were ATTACKED and ASSAULTED by other students for holding Trump flags at the anti-ICE student walkout

The father claims the staff were there watching it happen as the terrified kids can for their lives.

.@ChrisZuck is the principal. What… pic.twitter.com/jwhD3BniU2

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) February 22, 2026

“The principal saw this happen?” Mundo asked.

“Correct,” Zaslavsky said.

“He was out there?”

“Correct,” Zaslavsky confirmed. “With administration, on the sidewalk. He said to me the reason that they didn’t go and intervene is because they stepped across the street, and they were no longer on school property.

“I don’t understand what that means as a human, as a father. Does that mean we just shut off our feelings, we shut off our heart? Because they’re still your students, OK? They’re still humans. They’re still kids.”

There must have been enough school administrators present, Mundo opined, “for a couple of grown men who could’ve gotten involved and said, ‘Hey knock this off.’”

“Easily,” Zaslavsky answered.

District: no involvement, no political stance

Noting that Zaslavsky’s son and his friend, bearing pro-Trump flags, were “set up off of school property,” Mundo asked, “Was that a decision to kind of avoid confrontation? Was that the point, in part? 

“One-hundred and eighty percent correct,” the father said. “Yes. That was the exact reason. My son, as you can see in the videos, only fought these attackers off enough to get away. Not to hurt anybody.”

After Zaslavsky’s son, a senior, was chased by a mob and assaulted with a flag pole, Olathe police say they arrested a juvenile male, calling it a case of “aggravated battery.”

The Heartlander reached out to the Olathe school district with questions, including whether the father’s claim of inaction on the Olathe Northwest’s staff while students were being attacked across the street is true. The Heartlander also asked why the school’s advance notice about Wednesday’s protest doesn’t mention ICE.

In response, the district sent The Heartlander a series of emails from Zuck and district Superintendent Dr. Brent Yeager from before and after the Friday melee.

“Staff members do not participate in walkouts but observe from a short distance to help ensure student safety,” says a post-protest Sunday email from Zuck. “When students leave campus, however, we cannot guarantee supervision. In this instance, our district Safety Services team and our partners at the Olathe Police Department worked quickly to stop the off-campus altercation.

“I, along with our Safety Services team, have been working closely with law enforcement to thoroughly investigate this situation and identify the students involved. If you have any information, please contact me directly.”

A Monday email from Yeager noted the students’ First Amendment rights, condemned any violence, and proclaimed neutrality and non-involvement in the anti-ICE walkouts.

“We want to reiterate that these walkouts were entirely student-led and were not organized, sponsored, or endorsed by our staff, schools, or district,” the email reads. “As a public-school system and public-school educators, we remain politically neutral when serving in these capacities.

‘Running for his life’

Zaslavsky told Mundo the principal’s description to him of the video and the video itself “were definitely different.

“When he told me that he saw it, he saw the kids coming across. He saw a tussle, you know, and then he saw one kid running and two kids chasing him.

“That’s not true. He saw one kid running, with two kids close to catching him, and a whole gang right behind him, chasing him. My son didn’t know which one is gonna swing next or fight. He was running for his life. And all these teachers and administrators were right across the street watching.”

An outpouring of support for the Zaslavskys has expressed “pretty much everything that I believe, and that my son believes,” he said. “I can tell you that my eyes [have] been closed. Now they’re open. I’ve had so many people reach out to me, and I shared a lot of this with my son so he can keep going, because it’s definitely been hard on him also.”

In the school parking lot later, there was the opposite of support: Zaslavsky’s son’s friend’s Jeep was vandalized.

While district officials argue the events haven’t been school-sanctioned and that officials are forced by the First Amendment to accommodate them, the latter may not be true in cases where class time is lost or education is disrupted.

Zaslavsky said his son and friend were on early dismissal – though he takes issue with the principal’s stance that such protests aren’t sanctioned by the school.

“The school said how this wasn’t a school function or anything else. But yet, you have [Principal] Zuck sending out emails, confirmations.

“I can’t understand how it’s not a school function if you have the principal stating that they’re there for safety, they’re there for security, they’re there to make sure everything’s OK. But yet, when these kids cross the street to attack my son – which he did tell me in the phone call we had – [the principal] saw it happening.”

Parents: connect, have courage

Asked what he hopes people know about this incident, Zaslavsky talked about parental engagement with their kids and the courage to stand up for one’s beliefs.

“I hope people get the courage to stand up for what they believe in more, and not be bullied in a corner and have their mouth shut and their head down. I want people to be proud of whatever they believe. I don’t care left, right, up or down. If they believe in what they believe, and they’re not hurting anyone, and they’re not harming the world, let them believe it.

“I believe more parents should stand up for their kids. And if their kids are telling them this is happening, it’s happening. I was naive to it. I’m not any longer. I’m saddened by the actions of Principal Zuck. I really am.

“So, parents listen to your kids, and I hope they stand up for their kids more. And if they believe that Trump is the way, it is.

“Please keep in mind, my son was supporting the president of our United States of America. That’s it. He was supporting our president. That’s what he was doing. And that’s the last thing he should ever get beat up for. Or get in a fight or get attacked.

“I’m very proud of my son. I am very proud of his friend for standing up for their beliefs and not running. “