Can Lexington students, teachers join walkouts over gun laws, violence?

Fayette County public schools students and staff wondering whether to participate in walkouts on school campuses to convince legislators to pass tougher gun laws will have to wait for guidance from their individual schools.

“Each school is working with the students to determine how the demonstrations will be structured to best suit their campus” and allow student voices to be heard , district spokeswoman Lisa Deffendall said Wednesday afternoon.

“Students across the nation are talking about taking their own stance for safety by planning demonstrations on March 14, 2018,” Deffendall said. “Since we encourage freedom of expression and civic engagement for our students, we applaud and support their activism. Each of our secondary school principals will be working directly with their students to determine the best way to support their efforts and make sure their voices are heard.”

Fayette middle and high school principals on Wednesday had a regularly scheduled meeting at which they discussed a unified approach to the proposed student and teacher walkouts. But they did not issue a district-wide policy after that meeting.

The Women’s March Network has called for a national student walkout at 10 a.m., March 14. It is planned to last 17 minutes — one minute for every life lost in last week’s school shooting in Parkland, Fla.

The shooting in Florida followed a deadly school shooting in January in Marshall County, Ky., in which 2 students were killed and 18 injured.

A “March for Our Lives” has also been set for March 24 in Washington, D.C., organized by survivors of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.

The Network for Public Education, an advocacy organization for public schools, announced a national day of action on April 20, the anniversary of the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado, in which two students killed 12 students and one teacher.

Students in at least one Central Kentucky school district are making plans for April 20.

A Twitter page called @SCHSwalkout for Scott County High School students said, “On April 20th, attend school and then promptly WALK-OUT at 10:00am. PEACEFULLY protest. Voice your thoughts. “We are students, we are victims, we are change.”

Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk will hold a news conference Thursday to update the community “on the specific actions our district has taken and will take to bolster our five prong approach to school safety and security through prevention and deterrence.”

The name of the district’s new interim Chief of Law Enforcement will also be announced Thursday, Deffendall said.

The current Chief of Law Enforcement, Lawrence Weathers, was recently named Lexington’s new chief of police. Weathers starts that position March 5.

This story was originally published February 21, 2018 at 7:30 AM with the headline "Can Lexington students, teachers join walkouts over gun laws, violence?."