Cartersville Students To Honor Parkland Shooting Victims

CARTERSVILLE, GA — A wide variety of protest and memorials will be held across the country on Wednesday, March 14 to honor the 17 people who were gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. At Cartersville High School, administrators are embracing the efforts of students seeking to pay their respects to the victims in a way that works with the school's operations.

Thousands of students are expected to take part in a walkout on Wednesday as an effort to advocate for stricter gun laws. The March 14 walkout, which will coincide with the National School Walkout day, is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at sites across the country, according to the main campaign website.

Instead of banning protests or penalizing students who engage in similar activity, Cartersville High School Principal Marc Feuerbach said the school developed a plan that not only allows students to share their opinions on school safety, but also show their respects to the victims of the Parkland shooting.

On Wednesday, students will begin the day by a 17-second moment of silence to honor the 17 victims. Seventeen desks will be placed in the school courtyard, and each desk will have a single rose to commemorate each shooting victim. Students will also be allowed to leave a note for the families of the victims if they choose to do so (For more news like this, find your local Patch here. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app; download the free Patch Android app here).

During the school's advertisement time, students will also be allowed to make "encouraging posters for the students and staff at Douglas High School," the principal said. Those will be collected and shipped to the Parkland school. Cartersville students will also be given the chance to write letters to state legislators to share their thoughts on school safety. Those will also be collected and shared with state representatives.

"I am very proud of our students who have come forward and expressed their passion, thoughts, and ideas to our administration about the national school walk out idea," Feuerbach concluded in his letter. "I am also proud of the plan they have helped develop that will both allow our school to honor the victims from the tragic school shooting a few weeks ago and provide the students who wish to share their voice the opportunity to do so in a manner that aligns with our focus on student safety and a conducive learning environment."

Bartow County Schools spokesperson Alisha Evans said at 10 a.m. Wednesday, a student-led program over the intercom will take place at the middle schools, high schools and the College and Career Academy in support of the families who lost loved ones.

Seventeen seconds of silence will follow the students' program, and those who do not comply with the moments of silence "will be addressed in accordance to the Code of Conduct in the Student Handbook," she added.

Organizers behind the national event say the March 14 walkout is designed to "protest Congress' inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods."

"We need action," the nationwide event page states. "Students and allies are organizing the national school walkout to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship."

You can view a full list of schools participating in the national walkout by clicking here.

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