Greenville schools work to stop walkouts as participants face consequences

Greenville County school district officials are discouraging students and teachers from participating in Wednesday's National School Walkout, a nationwide effort to spur political action in response to the mass shooting that claimed 17 lives at a high school in Florida last month.

Local schools are planning alternatives as walkout participants face consequences.

Student-led activities that are sanctioned by the district will take place at all 19 middle schools and 15 high schools in the county on Wednesday, said Greenville County Schools spokeswoman Beth Brotherton.

"We are not supporting the walkout; we're encouraging alternatives," Brotherton said. "We're insisting that there be at least one alternative if not multiple alternatives at every middle and high school to give students a variety of ways to participate as opposed to walking out."

Students who do walk out will face disciplinary consequences.

"We understand that there are probably going to be students who choose to walk out, and, if they do, how they're going to be treated will depend on their own behavior," Brotherton said.

Students who walk out quietly for 17 minutes may be given only a warning.

"It will be a cutting-class citation, and there won't be repercussions," Brotherton said.

Consequences would be stronger if a student were to disrupt classes, and a student would be counted as absent if the student were to leave school property.

"It's a greater offense if they physically leave school property," Brotherton said.

Consequences for teachers who walk out would be more severe, though Brotherton said she was uncertain whether a teacher would be fired for walking out.

"A teacher is expected to do his or her job, and one of their jobs is to supervise children," Brotherton said. "To walk away from a supervisory role is unacceptable. Employees can't walk off the job. It's not the way the world works."

The group Women’s March Youth Empower is calling on students, teachers, school administrators and parents to participate in a walkout for 17 minutes at 10 a.m. on March 14 to protest gun violence.

The nationwide effort was prompted by the Feb. 14 mass shooting that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, and it's designed to pressure Congress to support gun-control legislation, according to the group's website.

Greenville school district officials are encouraging students to devise creative alternatives.

"We want students to have an opportunity to express themselves and have a voice, but we do not believe for safety reasons that a large mass of kids leaving the building at one time on a political issue is something that we can properly supervise," Brotherton said. "It makes a lot more sense to get the students on board with something we can manage."

Officials will be monitoring situations for safety, Brotherton said.

"We're making as many district people available as possible — an assistant principal or teachers who don't have a class that period — so we've got appropriate supervision in the hallways and at entrances and exits," Brotherton said.

All of the non-walkout activities on Wednesday are student-led and voluntary, Brotherton said.

The Greenville district, the state's largest with about 77,000 students, released a list of activities taking place at various schools on March 14 but declined to identify the schools:

• Students will write a pledge to end to school violence.

• Students will sign cards for Marjory Stoneman Douglas High.

• At 10 a.m., students will walk into the hallways and sit silently for 17 minutes. The name of one victim will be called out by a student every minute.

• At 10 a.m., students can go into the hallway and lock arms with other students to form a circle around the inside of the school while the victims' names are read over the intercom system.

• Students will wear Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school colors.

• Students will display 17 desks in the main hallway with pictures and names of the victims.

• The media center will be open at lunchtime for students to write emails to lawmakers.

• Student may create t-shirts for students to sell and wear.

Paul Hyde covers education and everything else under the South Carolina sun. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter: @PaulHyde7.