Harford Students Plan Walkouts Calling For Stricter Gun Laws

BEL AIR, MD — Students from a handful of schools in Harford County are planning to join a national movement in March protesting recent gun violence in schools and calling for stricter laws. The walkout is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14.

Harford Community College in Bel Air as well as Fallston and Aberdeen High schools are participating. The walkout events are planned across the country after 17 students and staff were killed and numerous people injured in the Valentine's Day massacre in Parkland, Florida.

Students participating in the national walkout on March 14 will leave their classrooms for 17 minutes – one minute for each life taken at the school on Feb. 14, according to organizers.

"We need action. 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," according to the nationwide event page.

You can find a full list of schools participating in the walkout here. Students at Aberdeen are encouraged to wear orange, according to organizers.

At the Harford County Board of Education meeting on Monday, Feb. 26, there was a moment of silence to remember the victims of the Florida school shooting. All in attendance bowed their heads in remembrance.

"I know school safety has been on everyone's mind," Board of Education President Joseph L. Voskuhl said Monday night. "Please be advised that we are conducting a full review," he added, of safety and security plans as well as training in Harford County Public Schools.

Schools across the nation have been on high alert since the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School resulted in 17 killed and more than a dozen others injured in Parkland, Florida.

Threats to schools, many of them turning out to be unsubstantiated, have skyrocketed.

There have been 546 school-based threats or violent incidents in the U.S. since the Parkland shooting — an average of 78 per school day, according to the Educator's School Safety Network.

Havre de Grace High School has investigated two threats, one on Thursday and another on Monday.

Last week, Bel Air and Harford Technical high schools were on alert due to threats that were not deemed substantiated.

In addition, two girls at Edgewood High School were charged as adults after authorities said they wrote a threatening note on a desk in an attempt to get out of class.

The Harford County Sheriff's Office has announced it will hold a town hall forum on school safety on Thursday, March 1.

Law enforcement officials from the Harford County Sheriff's Office and municipal police departments will be on hand, as will officials from Harford County government and Harford County Public Schools.

In less than 48 hours of announcing the forum, officials said that people reserved 1,000 free tickets to the event, which has "sold out." The Harford Cable Network will broadcast the town hall at a time to be determined, according to the sheriff's office.

SEE ALSO:

• 17 Florida School Shooting Victims Identified
• School Safety Forum Announced By Harford County Sheriff
• Edgewood High School Students Charged After Threats Found On Desk
• HdG High School Investigates Second Snapchat Threat This Week
• Montgomery County Students Walk Out, March For Gun Control In DC
• Florida School Shooter Taken Into Custody

— By Kara Seymour and Elizabeth Janney

Main image, demonstrators support gun control reform near the White House on February 19, 2018, in Washington, DC, days after a high school in Parkland, Florida. (Photo by Zach Gibson/Getty Images) Still image within article from the Feb. 26 Harford County Board of Education meeting in Bel Air.