‘National School Walkout’ gets both support and disdain
When students across the Bay Area walked of class last month to protest gun violence, the spotlight turned on Los Gatos where a pupil got a failing grade after she joined her peers.
Now, C.T. English Middle School is taking a hard line on students who leave class Friday for a National School Walkout on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting — the third mass demonstration in just over a month to lobby for stricter national gun measures since the Feb. 14 mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
“Students who walk out (April 20) will be escorted to the office, parents called to pick them up, they will be assigned Saturday school and they will receive zeros for any work missed, without the ability to make it up,” said C.T. English Middle School teacher David Kissner in an email to the Bay Area News Group earlier this week. Kissner flunked the student on a pop quiz when the student left class to join the March 14 protest.
Organized by four Connecticut teens, Friday’s walkout calls for students to leave class at 10 a.m., and pause for 13 seconds of silence to honor each of the victims in the Columbine High School shooting, in which two teens killed 12 students and one teacher in Littleton, Colorado. The walkout is supposed to last through the end of the school day.
Though the event is expected to be much smaller than last month’s walkouts, with fewer schools in the
“We want to support our students’ right to engage in civic discourse, but we can’t support off campus activities.” — Kimberly Beare, Morgan Hill Unified spokeswoman
Bay Area expected to participate, students still hope to sustain some momentum as they seek legislative change. To that end, several schools are arranging early voter registration drives. In California, 16-and 17-yearold’s can pre-register to vote before they turn 18.
“If our elected representatives won’t prevent gun violence, let’s elect some that will in 2018,” said the National School Walkout website.
The League of Women Voters is expected Friday at Palo Alto’s Gunn High School — where a student organized rally also is planned — to help students pre-register to vote. Representatives from the county’s registrar’s office also will be at Los Gatos High School. Students who want to pre-register to vote need to show their school identification or driver’s license, and provide their social security number, the registrar’s office said.
“We’re trying to get our youth prepared to go to the polls when it’s time,” Los Gatos High junior Emma Gerson said. “We are the voters of tomorrow — it’s never too early to start influencing change.”
Campbell’s Westmont High School, however, rejected a student’s request for a voter registration drive and rally. Principal Jason Miller said the school is “‘honoring the Columbine community’s request to commemorate April 20th as a day of service. As educators, we will work toward participating in service projects that will strengthen our school community.” Columbine High School students are not walking out on Friday and will instead spend the day serving their community.
“Congress is taking no action and I think students need to continue to pressure them on social media,” said Payton Pearson, a sophomore who had hoped to hold the rally and walkout at the school. “I am most disappointed we will not be able to hold the event without disciplinary action.”
Not all Westmont High students supported Payton’s efforts.
“I walked out on (March 14) because I thought it was important to recognize the tragedy in Parkland, Florida,” sophomore Will Smithers said. “I only walked out to honor those 17 people killed. I’m not in favor of gun control.”
In Morgan Hill, students at Ann Sobrato High School are planning to march 3 miles to city hall. But the school district is, instead, encouraging kids to attend a student-led town hall meeting.
“We want to support our students’ right to engage in civic discourse, but we can’t support off campus activities,” Morgan Hill Unified spokeswoman Kimberly Beare said. “So, student leaders at Ann Sobrato and Live Oak high schools will host a town hall meeting, with elected officials on each campus to talk about gun violence and regulations.”
The controversy over the March 14 walkout at C.T. English caused the parents of a student to seek the assistance of Bill Becker, the founder of Freedom X, a Southern California-based nonprofit law firm that’s focused on “protecting conservative and religious freedom of expression.”
The parents told Becker their son was being challenged by a parent who supported the walkout.
The parents “don’t like their children being indoctrinated with political views they don’t agree with,” Becker said. “These are political walkouts organized by political movements and sponsored by political lobbyist groups. It’s a tactic used with great success now to create a political movement targeting vulnerable and impressionable youth.”
Becker said the policy Kissner outlined on behalf of the school meets his clients’ expectations, but added, “If there’s one teacher who walks out we’ll go after that teacher and the school, as well.” Nothing will happen if C.T. English teachers and administrators do not participate in Friday’s walkout, but if any do Becker said he’ll consider filing a lawsuit to stop any future participation.
In the East Bay, Dublin High School students plan to walk off campus during their lunch period which begins at 11:20 a.m., then march to Dublin’s Civic Center where they will lie in front of City Hall and hold a small rally. Students were advised that they will be marked as absent and receive a one-period “cut,” which translates to detention.
“We want students to make responsible decisions while understanding that sometimes decisions have consequences,” wrote Dublin High School Principal Maureen Byrne in an email.
Even so, senior Evelyn Morehead said students plan to risk the “cut” though she expects only a fraction of the turnout of last month’s walkouts.
Sophomore Dublin High School student Arjav Rawal, who helped organize the March 14 walkout, said that this walkout is different and has turned too political. He doesn’t agree with students bashing President Donald Trump, or sending letters to Gov. Jerry Brown.
“The toxic dialogue in Washington is coming to roost in our schools,” he said.
He also believes that the movement has since died down in the school, and is being diverted from the original cause. He said he hasn’t seen a convincing enough argument to walk out this time.
“The biggest threat to national security … is we don’t have a functioning government. When we start to question each other’s characters and motives, it’s detrimental to getting action done.”