Thousands Of CT Students Take Part In National School Walkout

Thousands of students in Connecticut walked out of class Wednesday morning in Connecticut as part of the National School Walkout one month after a mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla. high school left 17 dead. More than 400 students walked out of Rockville High School in Vernon to take part in the national event.

"This is a movement that is controlled by the students, for the students, and for the rest of the world," said Skylar Goold, a 16-year-old junior at Rockville High School in Vernon. "We are the ones who have to make the change so that others will not pay the ultimate sacrifice in vain."

About 50 students walked out at Enfield High School in the morning. Students were also offered a repercussion-free alternative to attend a program in the school auditorium. One student reported the auditorium was nearly filled.

The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School was the deadliest school shooting since the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012. 20 children and six educators were killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.

Greenwich High School held a Unity Rally to honor the lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and all those lost to gun violence. Students designed and organized the rally with the support of school administration.

School systems approached the planned walkout differently. Some worked with student groups on planning to keep the event safe and peaceful. Students at Daniel Hand High School were asked to keep the walkout to school grounds. Students that didn’t wish to participate went to the library.

More than 1,000 students walked out of class at Danbury High School. Hundreds took part in an assembly at New Milford High School, according to the News-Times.

In Milford administrators closed off high school campuses to visitors while students participated in a peaceful walkout.

Wallingford officials announced that students who joined in the national walkout protest would be disciplined. School officials said alternative activities would be offered in its place. That didn't stop about 200 students at Sheehan and Lyman Hall high schools from walking out of the building for 17 minutes, according to the Record-Journal. Superintendent Salvatore Menzo said no students were disciplined for walking out.

Some politicians joined students in the walkout. Gov. Dannel Malloy went to Hartford and spoke to protesting students.

“I want each of you to remember this day for what you have done, to stand up to authority and say as you have said several times today ‘enough is enough,” he said.

Image via Chris Dehnel/Patch staff

Additional reporting by Chris Dehnel and Tim Jensen, Patch Staff