Students at a Kalamazoo high school are calling on the district to prioritize COVID-19 safety and take action against racism.

Social media posts from Black Lives Matter Kalamazoo-Battle Creek show students at the high school fighting their way inside Loy Norrix High School on Monday, after walking out in protest. Organizers said the administration wouldn't let them back in.

The Kalamazoo students, and Black Lives Matter Kalamazoo-Battle Creek members, say racism is present in Kalamazoo Public Schools and administrators aren't protecting them against discrimination or COVID-19.

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Kalamazoo Superintendent Rita Raichoudhuri said Jan. 14 the schools would remain in-person, despite having a Kalamazoo student die from the virus two days earlier.

"Our district's decision to remain in person is based on the fact that our layered mitigation strategies have successful resulted in extremely low school based transmission," Raichoudhuri said.

Black Lives Matter Kalamazoo-Battle Creek said in a statement that they support students using their right to demonstrate to protest injustice, lack of safety, and problematic policies in their schools.

"They deserve an education free from hostility, which includes unsafe practices in times of public health crisis, use of excessive force practices in physical or political ways against Black students and other students of color, and exposing all students to the helplessness of watching peers be treated discriminately," the statement continued.

The statement also said that students have emailed administration about their concerns, but administration had not replied.

News Channel 3 reached out to Kalamazoo Public Schools about Monday's protest, but the district declined to comment.

Black Lives Matter Kalamazoo-Battle Creek hosted a community discussion Monday evening on Zoom. During the meeting, participants shared stories from students and staff about their experiences with COVID-19 protocols in the district.

"Some classes, students masks aren't up and the teacher don't even ask them to put it up," a participant read of someone else's account.

She later read another account that said, "A student threw up. A staff picked up a mask off the ground and wiped the throw-up off the student."

News Channel 3 did not listen to the entirety of the discussion because the host removed News Channel 3 from the meeting. The host said the discussion was for Black community members only.