Walkout, March Planned By PSHS Teens After Florida Shooting

PLAINFIELD, IL — On Valentine's Day, a former student walked into his old high school in Parkland, Florida and opened fire, killing 17 people before he was apprehended. In a nation where school shootings have become an all-too-common reality, the tragedy moved students at the school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, to action as they demanded stronger gun laws and announced they are organizing a march, dubbed the "March For Our Lives," for March 24.

Here in Plainfield, several students say they'll follow the Florida teens' lead. Over at Plainfield South High School, students are planning a walkout for March 14 — despite being told they face detention if they leave the building — and are organizing the March 24 "March For Our Lives" in Chicago.

PSHS senior Isabella Paredes, 17, said she was inspired to reach out to the organizers of the march to find out if there would be a local event here in Chicago. Soon, Paredes and about 20 other area high school students — including five from Plainfield South — were helping plan the March 24 event in Chicago.

With school shootings occurring with alarming frequency — and events like Columbine, Sandy Hook and now Parkland becoming part of the national consciousness — the fear of a mass shooting is something that weighs on some students, according to Paredes.

At a time when active shooter drills are part of the school routine, "It's always in the back of everyone's mind," she said, "that someone could pull out an AR-15 or AK-47 and kill as many people as they want."

As of last week, Paredes said a tentative March For Our Lives route was planned, beginning in Grant Park, along with a rally. As of Monday morning, 25,000 people on Facebook had marked themselves as "interested" in attending the March For Our Lives Chicago and nearly 8,000 had indicated they plan to be there.

"I've always had very strong political views on guns," said Paredes, who believes the U.S. should model itself after Australia when it comes to gun control. Between 1979 and 1996, there were 13 mass shootings in Australia. After a gunman killed 35 people in the 1996 Port Arthur massacre, Australian authorities enacted strict new gun laws and a gun buyback program. Since then, the nation hasn't reported any new mass shootings — and the rate of gun-related suicides and murders, along with the overall murder and suicide rate, have declined.

Paredes said she's not the only local teen in favor of tougher gun control.

"There is immense support for this movement," she said last week. As far as the March 14 walkout goes, though she acknowledges some students are simply looking to get out of class, "My friends all play to walk out for the right reasons," Paredes said.

Despite their motivations, Paredes said administrators have warned the students that those who leave the building will receive detentions. She said student organizers have been in contact with administrators, who she says support the teens' efforts to be heard but for safety reasons have asked them to march to the PSHS auditorium rather than taking the event outside.

"We respectfully told our administration that it's happening," Paredes said. "We will accept our detentions."

Fellow PSHS senior River Finnegan, 18, said she sees the March 24 event as a way for students to voice their opinions.

"This one particular shooting has been the final straw," she said. "Seventeen people were killed and it could have been prevented."

Could it happen here? "I personally don't think Plainfield is an area that could experience this," Finnegan said, "but the people in Parkland thought the same thing.

"It does concern me," Finnegan added, especially with recent events — including the arrest of several Plainfield students last week. Last Monday night, a former Drauden Point student was arrested and a semi-automatic handgun confiscated after the teen allegedly posted a Snapchat selfie of himself holding a gun, along with a non-specific threat. On Tuesday, a Plainfield South student was arrested, accused of threatening to shoot his ex-girlfriend, and on Wednesday, a teen at Plainfield Central was taken into custody after authorities said he admitted to making threats.

Over the weekend, a teen who attended both Plainfield Central and Plainfield South was apprehended hours after authorities say he shot and killed both of his parents on the Central Michigan University campus.

• Father's Gun Used By Campus Shooting Suspect From Plainfield: CMU
• Plainfield Parents Mourned By Police, Mayor After CMU Shooting

Paredes said she supports the gun legislation recently passed by the Illinois House, including a bump stock ban, gun dealer licensing regulations and a new age requirement (21) to purchase or possess high-capacity magazines and firearms the state defines as assault weapons.

But she said the March For Our Lives is also a push for lawmakers to take on inner-city gun violence. "It's a lot more prevalent," she said. "(Gun violence) is something children going to school in Chicago have to protect themselves from every day."

As for the idea of teachers carrying guns, Paredes called it "absolutely ridiculous.

"Teachers have to pay for their own dry erase markers," she said. "Who's going to pay for guns? Who's going to pay for training?" Paredes said armed teachers would also create more risk for a student getting their hands on a weapon or getting shot.

Over the weekend, a community member posted an open letter to District 202 Superintendent Lane Abrell on Patch in response to a letter regarding student walkouts. The letter reads, in part:

My concern begins with your assertion that "there is an inherent safety risk for students, staff, and the district in tacitly allowing student walkouts." I understand that under normal conditions endorsing walk outs is a not good district policy. However there is absolutely nothing normal about my son and daughter having to imagine being slaughtered in their school. Even writing this I worry how they must feel. And for years they have watched the adults in their life do nothing to stop the bloodshed. Perhaps 'tacitly' allowing walkouts poses problems. But I am concerned that a superintendent that is charged with daily safety of thousands of children does not have time over the course of a month to proactively plan for a student walkout that is meant not just to protect the students but our community as a whole.

More from Patch

• Florida Shooting Is About Guns, Students Demanding Change Say
• Parkland Shooting: Students Plan March Urging Gun Control

Do you support student walkouts in protest of gun violence and the March For Our Lives? Let us know in the comments.

Image: Students comfort each other outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after a shooting left 17 dead on Feb. 14, 2017. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson