School Walkouts: Area Students Could Face Discipline This Time

Another national school walkout is planned Friday to mark the 19-year anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado. It's another example of the continued the activism by young people against gun violence that was sparked by the Valentine's Day mass shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people.

In March, thousands of students across the country — including those attending Lincoln-Way East, Tinley Park and Oak Forest high schools — participated in demonstrations. Administrators at local school systems like Lincoln-Way High School District 210 worked with student organizers to set up guidelines for the protests. The walkouts were neither condoned or condemned, and students were allowed to express themselves without repercussions.

That won't be the case this time around. District 210 spokeswoman Taryn Atwell told Patch on Thursday that administrators at the district's three high schools had not been contacted by students concerning potential walkouts Friday. When asked if students he did participate in a walkout would face punishment, such as detention, Atwell said discipline would be handled on a case by case basis.

According to the National School Walkout website, no protests are planned for Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way Central high schools. One is set for Lincoln-Way West High School in New Lenox, however, the website shows.

Nationally, the upcoming walkout will begin at 10 a.m. Friday, April 20, with students leaving classes to protest gun violence, the national website says. Unlike last month's demonstrations, this walkout will not be limited to 17 minutes — a minute for each of the victims of the Parkland shooting — and in some cases will last for the entire school day.

As for other area schools participating in Friday's walkout, a message to Bremen High School District 228 was not returned. But schools in that district were not listed as participating on the national website, and a student organizer for the March walkout at Oak Forest High School told Patch she wasn't aware of any plans for this upcoming demonstration.

Besides Lincoln-Way West, other local schools that will possibly have walkouts, according to the national website, include:

• Sandburg High School and Orland Junior High School in Orland Park
• Homewood-Flossmoor Community High School in Flossmoor
• Chicago Christian High School in Palos Heights

Go to the National School Walkout website for more information.

Image via National School Walkout