A school district in New Jersey is handing out two-day suspensions to students who participated in the pro-gun control National School Walkout on Wednesday.
Sayreville School District warned students in advance that disciplinary action would be taken against those who walked out of school for the gun control rally. “We are going to follow our student code of conduct in terms of discipline associated with whatever action occurs,” said Kevin Ciak, Sayreville Board of Education president.
MyCentralJersey.com reports that Ciak identified suspension as the appropriate disciplinary action in this case:
If students are informed by the principal that they are prohibited from walking out of school but they do, it would be considered failure to follow administrative direction, which would result in a suspension, Ciak said.
The superintendent of the district, Richard Labbe, advised parents that the walkout would not be condoned due to safety reasons as soon as the idea of a walkout hit the media.
Only an estimated two dozen students participated in the National School Walkout, according to officials. “Some participated within the building, some left the building but remained on school property and a handful — two or three — actually left school property,” explained Ciak. “We’ll be following our student code of conduct for those categories.”
One teenaged student, Sierra Thomas, told MyCentralJersey.com that she and two friends walked out of classes.
“I walked out with two of my other friends,” she said. “We met up with about 10 more people,” added the 16-year-old.
Sophomore Rosa Rodriguez also participated in the National School Walkout. “I don’t care if I get suspended,” she told News 12.
Rodriguez, who claims she was at one point the only one to exit her school, says she’s disappointed in her fellow classmates.
“If you were gonna come outside in the first place, you should have still came outside,” she said. “Just because you didn’t want to have these consequences and stuff, just stay inside, you should have came outside and proven them wrong.”
Superintendent Labbe maintains that he and the district support and encourage students’ rights to express themselves.
“We are in support of and have always encouraged our students to express themselves and exercise their freedom of speech, so long as it does not cause a major disruption to the school environment and does not put them in danger,” Labbe said.
“Therefore, we believe that allowing and/or supporting them to walk out of our schools on a specific date and at a specific time is not safe and will cause a major disruption to the education of those students, as well as those who wish to remain in class learning,” he added.
Labbe notified parents that it would be permissible and even encouraged for parents who wanted their children to participate in the walkout to sign their kids out of school at the time of the event.