Peters Finalizing Student Walkout Activities Plan

PETERS TOWNSHIP, PA - Peters Township School District officials and students are finalizing plans for students to participate in Wednesday’s National School Walkout.

The national walkout will last 17 minutes to honor the 17 people killed last month in the Parkland, Florida school shootings. Spurred by survivors of the shooting, the walkout is part of a larger effort to get stricter federal gun control legislation enacted.

Specifically, Empower, the youth branch of the Women’s March that is organizing the event, wants Congress to:

• Ban assault weapons
• Require universal background checks before gun sales
• Pass a gun violence restraining order law that would allow courts to disarm people who display warning signs of violent behavior.

Peters Township High School students are not aligned with the national effort, district officials said, but they will walk out between 9:30 and 10 a.m. Participating students will be directed to a designated location that will be supervised by faculty and staff, and Peters Township Police also will be on hand. All students will be accounted for upon re-entering the building following the walkout.

At the middle school, student leadership has organized a tribute that will take place inside the building during the morning. No walkout activities are planned for the district’s three elementary schools.

The district is not requiring or mandating students to participate in walkout activities.. Teachers with students who opt to not participate in the walkout will remain in the classroom.