Students to walkout for solidarity

By Kayleigh Rahn
A group of Tuscola students–with the support of their principal and teachers–plan to not only walk out of class Wednesday, March 14 but to walk toward others and reach out with kindness.

In solidarity with high school students across the country, a group of Tuscola Community High School students have worked with the school administration to partake in the nationwide student walkout planned by teens in an effort to honor the 17 students and faculty members killed in a Parkland, Fla., school last month.

TCHS principal Brad Allen issued an email and voicemail message to parents Monday morning informing parents of the school’s decision to allow students to participate.

“We’re all very aware and very sensitive to what’s going on today with not only school safety but with overall personal safety and well being of people in our communities,” Allen said. “There are a lot of issues being addressed in response to recent tragic events. We are seeing what other school district immediately faced as far as student reaction. Across the nation people are handling this in a lot of difference ways. There are truly only two options that we had in response to the organized political walk out–we ignore it and tell our students if they participate they will be punished or embrace it and look at it as an opportunity for dialogue to work with our students over something that they feel is important.”

To open that dialogue, Allen invited a group of student leaders Friday, March 9 to his office to gage local interest.

“They were very clear on why they wanted to participate,” Allen said. “They wanted to participate to show a sense of solidarity and empathy for those affected by the tragic events in Parkland, Fla. They wanted to recognize those 17 people who lost their lives. I think our students should be commended for taking such a mature stance on something like this and their ability to discuss amongst themselves that they would like to participate in a very organized and respectful way. I think it’s our obligation to assist them in any way we can, so we intend to do that.”

The full story can be found in the Wednesday, March 14 edition of The Tuscola Journal.