Saucon Valley High School students who opted to walk out of class gathered at the flagpole in front of the school at 10 a.m. Wednesday for a 17-minute remembrance of last month’s shooting victims at a Florida high school. The walkout was part of a national day of remembrance and protest.
Around 100 Saucon Valley High School students participated in a day of national remembrance–and in some places, protest–Wednesday morning, in honor of the 17 students who died in a school shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., last month.
The students walked out of the school at 10 a.m. and stood around the flagpole in front of the main entrance for 17 minutes.
The solemnity of the occasion seemed to be lost on some students, who talked and laughed during the remembrance period.
There were no signs or any other visible symbols of protest against gun violence in schools, which is what some organizers of today’s nationwide walkout have promoted.
The local police presence at the school was heavy, with a perimeter of yellow caution tape established around the flagpole circle that kept media and anyone else who may have approached at bay.
A Lower Saucon Township police SUV blocked the entrance to the high school parking lot and a cadre of officers–including Chief Tom Barndt–were highly visible near the circle, along with some teachers and administrators.
Township police cars also blocked the entrances to the middle and elementary schools, where younger children engaged in different activities in connection with the day.
In a previous communication to parents, Saucon Valley Supt. Dr. Craig Butler said teachers and students in grades K through fourth would have class meetings at which students would be encouraged to share feelings, ask questions, practice telling someone what they want and listen to each other.
At Saucon Valley Middle School he said “teachers and students in grades 5 through 8 will be meeting in teams and discussing age-appropriate content relating to kindness, compassion and empathy towards one another.”
“It is not the district’s intent to support one political view over another, but simply to allow students to participate in a walkout in a safe manner,” Butler said Sunday.
Nevertheless, many parents expressed divided views on Facebook regarding what it all meant, with some questioning:
- Whether a walkout should be allowed, and whether students who walked out should face discipline.
- Whether the event at Saucon Valley was a remembrance, a protest, or both.
- Whether some students would participate in the walkout for the wrong reasons, e.g. as an excuse to get out of class.
Any students who used the opportunity to walk out of school simply in order to get out of class for 17 minutes were likely half chilled to the bone by the time they returned to the warmth of the high school building at 10:17 a.m., as temperatures outside were unusually cold for this time of year, and a strong wind was blowing across the campus.
High school students who did not participate in the walkout had two other options: to remain in class as usual or to participate in a remembrance ceremony inside the building.
At Tuesday night’s school board meeting, the subject of the walkout was discussed by board members after resident Mark Morawski asked “what protests (the district) supports and allows during school hours.”
“We’re taking this one at a time,” Butler responded. “There is a movement nationally to do a follow-up on this April 20. We’re concerned about that. …This is enough.”
“For disruption…to be a fairly common event, is not in my view what we should do in the future,” he added.
Board solicitor Mark Fitzgerald said existing case law will continue to guide the district in how it responds to any student walkouts.
Watch the school board meeting online, here.
Students returning to class at 10:17 a.m.
