Students stage walkout; district readies for more
About 200 students walked out of John Marshall Mid-High School on Wednesday morning to raise gun violence awareness.
Oklahoma City Public Schools backed the demonstration, organized by eighth-graders Jaime Richardson and Paisley Lonebear in response to last month’s deadly school shooting in Florida.
“We respect and support the right of our students to advocate for causes that are important to them,” acting Superintendent Rebecca Kaye said in a letter to families posted on the district’s website Tuesday night.
The purpose of the letter was to respond to rumors of planned student demonstrations, spokeswoman Beth Harrison said.
“Student protests or walkouts are something that are happening across the country,” she said. “We wanted to be proactive and inform our families and staff about what our plan is, ... about how we’ll manage these kinds of events.
“Our students have the right to freedom of expression every day. It’s something that we need to be prepared for.”
John Marshall students gathered outside the school in northwest Oklahoma City about 10 a.m. Wednesday and walked around the building. They carried signs and chanted “no more school shootings” and “no more gun violence.”
The demonstration lasted about 20 minutes and was peaceful, officials said.
Jamie and Paisley printed fliers and took to social media to spread the word.
“We wanted to bring awareness to all the gun violence . ... We just wanted to put our word out there for John Marshall that we wanted our voices to be heard,” Paisley said.
Jaime said she wants to feel protected when she goes to school so “I don’t have to worry about somebody coming inside this school with a gun.”
John Marshall Principal Aspasia Carlson said she supported the effort by students.
“I want them to be able to positively and responsibly
advocate for themselves and causes they are passionate about,” Carlson told The Oklahoman.
In the letter to families, Kaye said the district’s goal in responding to walkout plans and other types of peaceful assembly is “to try and keep focus on teaching and learning while providing guidance and planning to support student and staff safety.”
“We encourage you to talk to your child(ren) about how they may be feeling about the recent loss of lives on school campuses and the importance of expressing themselves in appropriate ways,” she said.