McKeel Principal Defends Decision To Not Join National Walkout

LAKELAND, FL – Administrators at McKeel Academy of Technology aren’t giving media interviews but Principal Joyce Powell did send an email to parents regarding her decision forbid students at McKeel to participate in the national school walkout Wednesday, March 14.

Students as well as some teachers expressed outrage when the Lakeland charter school’s administrators refused to allow students to participate in the walkout with students at 158,000 other schools around the country.

Instead of permitting the students to join the national movement for school safety in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the administration staged a fire drill at 10 a.m., the time designated for the national walkout.

Coincidentally, the fire drill lasted 17 minutes, the duration set by walkout organizers to honor the 17 people killed in the Parkland shooting.

Junior Katie Gallo approached administrators about participating in the walkout on Tuesday. She said she was told that participation would not be permitted due to safety concerns and that the students were welcome to gather before school, instead.

Gallo said the timing of the schoolwide fire drill was disconcerting because it made it appear that McKeel students were taking part in the national demonstration.

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In her email to parents, Powell said there was “considerable misinformation” on social media regarding what happened.

She said she sent the email so parents can “assist us with dispelling any other misinformation your student or yourself may be receiving.”

Powell admitted that the fire drill coincided with the national walkout and said that was done on purpose so students could simultaneously participate in the walkout if that was their choice.

This, however, contradicts reports by students and staff about a schoolwide intercom announcement earlier that morning informing students they could not participate in the walkout.

One student recorded the announcement:

"We will not be participating in the national walkout event scheduled at 10 a.m. and anyone who chooses to walk out will receive a detention at minimum.”

Powell did not return phone calls from Patch.

The following is her email to parents in its entirety:

Dear Parents,

Considerable misinformation is swirling around campus and on social media about today’s events. There were two separate events that were conducted on our campus today.

First off, at 8:30 this morning our student body was given the opportunity to participate in a “Walk Out” honoring the victims of the tragic accident that occurred at Stoneman Douglas High one month ago today. You may have noticed this gathering as you dropped your student off at school today as it took place in the grassy area between the car drop off line and the bus loop. We wanted to provide extra coverage for this event so we partnered with Polk County Sheriff’s Office who provided a deputy for us to assist in monitoring the event. We felt that it was a successful event as we had numerous students choose to participate.

Secondly, we are required to conduct a fire drill each month to ensure our students and staff are fully prepared if an emergency was to happen. In light of the events at Stoneman Douglas High a month ago, school safety procedures have begun to make a drastic change. With these changes comes an even greater level of importance for practice. With that being said, we utilized some new strategies today for our drill. We incorporated a simulated event where there was a fire at the front of our school, which would have the students and staff report to the back of the school. We also incorporated a delayed dismissal from the classroom when the fire alarm went off. These changes caused the drill to last longer than it normally would. We did, however, conduct this drill at the time when the National Walk Out Event was scheduled to occur in order to give those students who wished to participate, at the nationally recognized time, an opportunity to do so without causing a separate disruption to the school day. No students were encouraged to participate nor were they discouraged to participate.

Lastly, a local news helicopter flew over our campus during the time of our drill. Please know that we did not contact any local news informing them of the gathering this morning nor the drill later in the day. As far as we know, the timing of the helicopter was completely coincidental.

We send you this information to ask that you assist us with dispelling any other misinformation your student or yourself may be receiving.

Thank you for your assistance with this matter.

Joyce Powell

Image via McKeel student

McKeel Academy of Technology students gather before the start of school Wednesday to observe the walkout after school administrators told students they couldn't participate in the national event.