SCHOOLS IN STATE urge caution amid calls for walkouts.

National calls for a student walkout Wednesday, the one-month anniversary of the shooting deaths of 17 students and adults at a Parkland, Fla., high school, have Arkansas school leaders reaching out to student groups to urge caution or alternative activities, if not opposition.

The Women’s March Youth Empower and the Advancement Project are among the organizations nationwide promoting the #Enough National School Walkout to both honor those who were killed by an armed intruder at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and to protest what some students and adults say is a general inaction against gun violence in schools.

Mike Poore, superintendent of Little Rock School District, has scheduled a news conference with Little Rock Police for this morning to talk about the district’s efforts to work with student leaders and to keep the campuses safe.

Poore’s news conference comes the same day as the first meeting of Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s newly appointed School Safety Commission. The commission, led by Cheryl May, director of the Criminal Justice Institute of the University of Arkansas System, will assess security at Arkansas’ schools and recommend any improvments for campuses. The commission’s initial report is due to the governor July 1.

In a letter to parents Friday, Poore acknowledged the heightened anxiety. He also cited the importance of educating students about the right to peacefully demonstrate differing views in a democratic society.

“Challenging times create the need for us to all work together,” Poore wrote. “Our principals at each secondary school have worked with their student leadership teams to create as safe an environment as possible to conduct their protest, should they choose to participate. This collaboration is healthy and most importantly, it creates the best-case scenario for us to ensure safety for all of our students.”

EStem Public Charter High School staff members and students have set concrete parameters for Wednesday.

Students and staff members have a designated location on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus for those who want to participate in a short demonstration, eStem Chief Executive Officer John Bacon said Monday.

“Some students will carry signs, and the intent is to achieve more of a ‘silent’ protest against gun violence in schools rather than a ‘rally’ type environment,” Bacon said. “The activity is optional and should last about 10-15 minutes. Those students and faculty members who choose not to participate will be allowed to remain in the school building.”

Leaders in other schools and districts contacted Monday were also aware of the national call for a demonstration and had talked to their student organizations and faculties about possible responses.

In the case of Fort Smith’s schools, there weren’t any known plans for walkouts, a spokeswoman said.

“Principals and assistant principals did reach out to student organizations to see if there were ways that schools could make the best use of an opportunity such as this,” Zena Featherstone Marshall of the Fort Smith district, said in an email. “To date they have not been told of any student groups organizing activities during instructional time.”

However, the district leaders know that a student demonstration is still not out of the question, Marshall said. The district’s assistant superintendent for secondary education forwarded guidance from the Arkansas School Boards Association to campus administrators saying students can demonstrate as long as it is peaceful and not obscene.

And, while students should be able to demonstrate without fear of discipline for their participation, they may be counted absent or tardy if they miss class, according to the guidance sent to the principals.