South Bay Students Prepare For National Gun Violence Walkout

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA – On Wednesday, one month after the Parkland school shooting, thousands of students in the South Bay and Harbor Area will walk out of their classrooms at 10 a.m. to protest gun violence and honor the 17 students who died just a month earlier in Florida. The event, coined the #ENOUGH National School Walkout, is coordinated by the same organizers of the Women's March.

Every school will take a different approach – Redondo Beach students will partake in an official walkout, while students from Torrance and Palos Verdes Estates are expected to host on-campus events.

Students at Redondo Beach Union High School will be allowed to leave school property and congregate on the lawn in front of the school on Pacific Coast Highway near the corner of Diamond Street, according to the Daily Breeze. Redondo Beach police will be at the demonstration, Principal Jens Brandt told the newspaper.

“Our job is to create safe schools and safe learning communities, so as much as March 14 is a special day, after it’s over, our jobs are still in front of us to keep kids, staff and families safe each and every day,” Superintendent Steven Keller told Daily Breeze. “This is not a one-hit-wonder event.”

However, not every South Bay school has seen similar support. Students at San Pedro High School were originally planning to walk out of school, but after administrators warned students of potential consequences, they decided to keep their event on campus, according to Daily Breeze.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, which includes schools in the Harbor Area and nearby, discouraged students from walking off campus last week. They'll host an on-campus event instead.

“We feel like walking out will not really help our cause, so it will be better if we take action, and have activities to help students learn to make change using their political voice,” Christian Delvin, a senior at San Pedro High, told Daily Breeze.

The school will place 17 desks near the flagpole to honor the students killed in Parkland, put up a “call wall” with the phone numbers of lawmakers and another “expression wall” for students to write messages, the newspaper reported. There also will be face-painting stations and a therapy circle, English teacher David Crowley told Daily Breeze.

Some of the schools will have guests and speakers: Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn will walkout with students at Alice M. Baxter College-Ready High School, and gun control advocate and South Bay Rep. Ted Lieu will speak at South High School in Torrance.

Here are some of the registered walkouts in the South Bay area:

• Beryl Heighs School Walkout
• Redondo Union High School Walkout
• North High School Walkout
• South Torrance High School Walkout
• South Bay LA School Walkout- #ENOUGH
• ENOUGH: Palos Verdes Peninsula High School Walkout
• El Segundo High School Walkout March 14th
• PVHS Walkout

For more information, visit the #ENOUGH National School Walkout website.

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