National School Gun Walkout: Cleveland Students May Protest

CLEVELAND, OH — The Cleveland Metropolitan School District will allow students to protest on March 14, during a nationally organized walkout, or on any other date they want. The series of national protests are designed to pressure lawmakers into creating more restrictive gun legislation, in the wake of a Florida high school shooting that left 17 people dead. It's not yet clear if Cleveland students will participate.

"Our standard practice is that CMSD educators will not interfere with peaceful protests at their school. If students leave their classroom or school to participate in a walkout, teachers will mark the student as unexcused tardy or absent as appropriate, and we will follow each school's normal procedures for reporting and recording unexcused tardiness or absence. Educators have also been encouraged to remind students that if they choose to participate, they assume the normal consequences of missing class or school," said Roseann Canfora, the district's chief communications officers.

Safety and security teams will be deployed during any student protest, Canfora told Patch. When students finish protesting and return to school, they'll be required to go through the security entrance, as if they were first arriving at school.

However, the security teams will be out there merely to ensure student and staff safety. The goal, for the district, is to allow students to use their First Amendment rights while reminding them that civil disobedience sometimes has consequences.

"We have found that this calm and deliberate approach to such situations will minimize rather that escalate tensions," Canfora said.

Canfora said some schools in the district have already seen protests for stricter gun laws take place. The protests have been peaceful and written guidance has been issued to teachers and other district staff on how to respond, should protests continue.

The CMSD administration wants as little disruption as possible to regular school activities, but also wants students to feel they have a safe space to share their voice.

"We encourage our educators to enable students to share their feelings about the news, and have distributed a helpful online resource to help parents and staff have difficult conversations with their children about violence: “Talking to Children About Violence: Tips for Parents and Teachers.” is a printable handout available in 10 languages," Canfora said in her email to Patch.

She also said that students are encouraged to say something to administrators if they suspect something may be wrong or dangerous about a situation or a developing situation.

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