By Greg Halbleib and Illinois Radio Network
BLOOMINGTON-NORMAL – Some high school students across Illinois plan to walk out of class Wednesday as part of a national protest for gun control in the wake of a school shooting in Florida that left 17 dead.
Others will stay in school. But almost every school in the state is talking about protests, engagement, and school safety as part of that national conversation that’s followed the latest Parkland shooting.
Each Illinois school is deciding how it will handle the 17-minute protest.
Some schools are forbidding students from walking out, some are scheduling assemblies instead and some are allowing students to walk out.
Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel is one of those allowing students to participate. He said the national protest is a learning experience.
“It’s one of those things on our student’s minds,” Daniel said Tuesday. “And this is very interesting. Because this time it’s student-led, with a major emphasis on their needing to express themselves. I call it demonstration.”
Other schools say they won’t let students participate because they’re worried about the safety and the wisdom of letting them walk out of class.
District 87 Superintendent Barry Reilly said Bloomington High School students will be allowed to leave classes and stage their demonstrations in the hallways. BJHS kids will be allowed to go outside. Reilly said students and principals are coordinating the effort.
“(The students) have worked in partnership with school officials to do it in a productive way,” Reilly said. “My hope for that is that it extends well beyond the actual protests.”
Reilly said school groups already focus on inclusion of all students, and he hopes Wednesday’s activities underscore those efforts.
“Everything that they’re really centering on is about relationships,” Reilly added. “That’s the foundation for everything as we move forward. That’s my hope is that they take out of this, not just those 17 minutes, but as time goes on we really build on that and make sure that every kid feels part of the school.”
Daniel said no matter what, students will be learning something during the protest.
“I am hoping that this doesn’t sunset,” Daniel said. “I am hoping that this continues to be a major topic of discussion. And that the powers that be come together and find solutions, whatever those may be.”
Students across the country are set to walk out, or protest in some other way, for 17 minutes at 10 a.m. local time.
It’s supposed to be one minute of silence for each of the people killed in last month’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
