Perry Hall Students Plan Walkout On March 14

PERRY HALL, MD — Students from Perry Hall High School are planning to join a national movement this week protesting recent gun violence in schools and calling for stricter laws. Students will walk out of class starting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14.

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.

"Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on their way home from school," organizers say. "Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day. We are not safe at school."

Say organizers: "Congress must take meaningful action to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that address the public health crisis of gun violence."

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.

You can find a full list of schools participating in the national walkout here, occurring a month after the Florida school shooting. Other walkouts are planned in Baltimore County at Carver, Catonsville High School, CCBC - Catonsville, Chesapeake High School, Common Ground Community Center, Franklin High School, Loch Raven High School and Towson High School.

Gun violence is a real concern at Perry Hall High School, which was the location of a school shooting in 2012 when a student opened fire on the first day of school.

Robert Gladden Jr., who was 15 at the time, shot and injured a special needs student in the Perry Hall High School cafeteria on Aug. 27, 2012. He was sentenced to 35 years in prison for attempted first-degree murder.

In January, a fight broke out in the parking lot of Perry Hall High School that resulted in five people being charged. A video of the fight showed a gun was involved, which police said was later determined to be an airsoft gun.

SEE ALSO:

• Teen Charged With Having Weapon At Perry Hall High School
• Student Charged At Perry Hall HS Was Breaking Up Fight: Report
• Gun At Perry Hall High School Was Airsoft Pistol, Police Say
• Perry Hall High School Fight: 5 Charged, Police Say
• Threat At Perry Hall Middle School Ends In Arrest: Police
• Threat At Perry Hall HS Not Credible: Police

— By Patch editors Elizabeth Janney and Kara Seymour

Patch file photo.