Cobb Students Face Resistance To Guns Walkout

MARIETTA, GA — Unlike students in other metro Atlanta counties and across the nation, Cobb County students who attempted a walkout to protest gun violence on Wednesday met resistance from school officials who had said they wouldn't support the demonstrations.

On social media, students and others were complaining about what they considered a harsh school-system response to the walkouts, which come a month after the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17 people and wounded another 16. Reports were surfacing of school doors being locked, heavy security presence and other measures.

"Some Cobb County schools were so against the walkout that my particular school blacked out all the windows so if people did walk out, no one could see them," one Twitter user wrote. "They also had teachers in every corner sending kids back to class and no one was allowed to use the bathroom/get water all day."

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"Cobb County sucks," wrote another. "We had a lot of police in every corner of the school and weren't allowed to leave our classes at all."

Wrote a third: "I hate feeling so useless and powerless ... . My life is in danger every time I walk into school and you don't care about that? Kids my age died and you don't want to let us mourn?"

A Cobb County schools spokesman told Patch that no students were prevented from leaving a school building and that it is not possible to lock doors in a way that prevents someone from exiting the building.

Despite the district's stance, dozens of students walked out shortly before 10 a.m. at Walton High School. Before school started Wednesday at Walton, students also gathered in the courtyard to pay their respects for the lives lost in Parkland but, when the bell rang to start the school day, they reported to class.

A Cobb County Schools spokesperson did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment for this story. But before the walkouts, the district sent out a message that they would not be tolerated.

"We are aware of the desire of some students to participate in a demonstration of empathy for the lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14, 2018," the system said in the message. "The Cobb County School District leadership will work with students to identify the best methods to accomplish this demonstration of empathy without interruption of normal school operation, which is a policy violation and potentially jeopardizes student and staff safety.

"The Cobb County School District does not support or endorse walkouts/protests that cause interruption to normal school operations. Students who choose to disrupt the normal operations of a school may be subject to consequences in accordance with the Student Code of Conduct."

On social media, students were saying they'd been told the could face suspension, Saturday detention and other punishments if they walked out.

Attorneys with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the civil-rights organization found by Martin Luther King, Jr., have called for fairness in Cobb schools' dealings with students who did protest.

Elsewhere in metro Atlanta, schools were facilitating the student protests or, at the least, not interfering with them. At Atlanta Public Schools, superintendent Meria Carstarphen cited Atlanta's historic role in the civil rights movement in announcing that schools would work with students who wanted to protest.

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