Enfield School Officials Offer Alternative Walkout Plan

ENFIELD, CT — School officials concerned with how to handle a planned March 14 walkout by high school students in support of the Florida school shooting victims are offering an "indoor walkout" alternative, consequences-free, in an attempt to keep students from leaving the building.

The walkout, which involves high school students across the nation, is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 14.

Enfield officials are offering students the opportunity to walk out of class at 9:55 a.m., to proceed to the auditorium for a 17-second period of silence in remembrance of the victims at 10 a.m. Student leaders will then address the gathering about the “#whatsyour17” movement, and town and school leaders have been invited to host a listening session to hear student concerns during that time.

Students leaving the building during the walkout are subject to possible disciplinary action.

Enfield High School principal Erin Clark sent an email to students and families, which is published in its entirety here.

EHS Students and Families,

As you know, there are students around the country organizing events to both pay tribute to the victims of the Parkland tragedy and draw attention to school safety issues. I know this event hit home for many of us in the high school community. As educators, we understand the importance of supporting students in these difficult moments. We also want to support their development as active and responsible citizens, and we have a duty to nurture an environment where students feel comfortable expressing a variety of opinions. While we would never want to stifle the voices of our students, we have a responsibility to ensure student safety. For this reason, administration cannot endorse a situation where students are walking out of the building. Such a walkout is unsafe and may put students in danger. Board Policy gives us the authority to assign discipline to students participating in any activity such as a walk-out or sit-in and we intend to inform students that we will issue consequences for any students caught leaving the building without permission.

Building administration, Central Office, and local town officials have been in talks about how to address these conflicting concerns. We have been in the process of meeting with student leaders to identify a safe student-supported alternative to a walkout. The student leaders stated that the original goal of the March 14th event was to pay tribute to the victims of Parkland, and that the goal of the April 20th event was to draw attention to issues impacting school safety. After several of these meetings, we have come to a collective agreement on how to honor the students’ wishes to pay tribute to the Parkland victims and express their concerns about school safety. While we are still working out the details for April, our current plan for March 14th involves the following:

Students will have the consequence-free option of leaving class to “walk down” the hallways to the auditorium at 9:55 a.m. To ensure safety, they are not to leave the building. We will position personnel outside of the building in the event that students do attempt to leave the building. Under no circumstances should teachers influence or require students to participate in this activity. Teachers will remain in their classrooms for students who do not wish to “walk down” and to be present for any students returning prior to 10:18. Academics should continue as scheduled. Participating students will be responsible for making up any missed work during this time. At 10:00 a.m. we will hold a school-wide 17 seconds of silence to pay tribute to the victims of the 17 victims of the Parkland tragedy. After the moment of silence, students in the auditorium will hear from student leaders about the “#whatsyour17” movement. This is a movement to honor the victims by doing 17 positive things for others to positively impact the climate of the school. Examples include: smile at 17 people, say a kind word to 17 people, offer 17 people a compliment, etc. Students will be invited to either stay in the auditorium to Tweet or post their 17 positive actions using the hashtag #EHSwhatsyour17 or they can go to the cafeteria to write down their “17” on a paper that will be posted in the hallway wall devoted to #EHSwhatsyour17. Additionally, local leaders (the mayor, Board of Education chairman and superintendent) have been invited to host a listening session to hear student concerns during this time. The bell will ring as usual at 10:18 am and students are to proceed to their 3rd block class.

We also plan to bring in local leaders and officials to hear student concerns about school safety in April. We will share additional details on this once they are available. We recognize that some students, despite the prospect of consequences, may still choose to walk out of the building, and we are planning accordingly. We hope this alternative will deter our students from engaging in any unsafe behavior while providing them a safe opportunity to express themselves.

Sincerely,
Ms. Clark

Erin Clark
Principal
Enfield High School

Photo credit: Tim Jensen