Student shot at Madison Schools in Ohio gets detention for school-shooting protest

MADISON TWP. - In 2016, he was shot in his school’s cafeteria while eating chicken nuggets. He remembers falling on the ground, unsure what happened, watching students run away from him.

He hoped someone would come tell him everything was OK.

Earlier this month, against the wishes of his school administration, Cooper Caffrey walked out of Madison High School – past the cafeteria – as part of a day of protests around the country in the wake of the deadly school shooting in Florida.

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The sophomore got a detention. And so did 42 other students who walked outside with him.

Some in this small Butler County community are upset with the punishment, saying if anyone has a right to protest it's these students.

One family has even spent time at a park near the school with signs, one of which says “Encourage (not punish) bravery.”

But Cooper’s dad is fine with what the school did.

Marty Caffrey understands school officials were put in a tough position, worried about safety, and will always be grateful for how they helped his son in the aftermath of the shooting.

“The whole purpose of a walkout is to protest against an establishment,” he wrote on Facebook. “I do not expect the establishment to support the walkout.”

Without punishment, he told The Enquirer, it would have been meaningless.

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Madison High School's student council met with administrators several times before the walkout.

The school's spokeswoman said those students wanted to show a unified response after Parkland and felt a walkout would be seen as advocating for gun control legislation – not something this rural and mostly-Republican community would be unified on.

So students agreed to wear the colors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where 17 people were shot and killed in February, and stickers of support. There would be no walkout.

Cooper didn’t go to school that day planning to protest.

“He’s always hated the attention from all of this,” his dad said. “I know that he really just wanted to pretend that day never happened.”

Marty Caffrey jokes with his son that since he was shot on a leap year they only have to deal with it every four years.

But he knows that’s not true.

He and Cooper get texts every time there is a school shooting, and they still get Facebook messages from reporters seeking interviews.

On the morning of March 14, Cooper kissed his dad on the cheek and got out of the car without a word.

Inside, the high school principal made an announcement to all students about the significance of why some were wearing the Florida school’s colors.

He also told students they would be punished for any activity that disrupts the school day.

Cooper was pissed, he texted his dad, because they were telling him what to do. And pissed because he cared.

Later that morning, he and 42 other students walked outside into the school’s courtyard. This is where officials shepherded them because they felt the front of the building would be too dangerous.

But the students tried to get to the front flagpole anyway, as school resource officers commanded them to stop. They made it to the side of the building, where administrators finally corralled them.

The students concluded their 17-minute demonstration in prayer.

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Earlier this week, Cooper and his dad went to a Madison school board meeting – their first.

Cooper stood in the back of the library with a Mountain Dew. A few steps down the hall is the cafeteria.

The meeting started with younger students being recognized. They went up individually, collecting a certificate and pencil from the superintendent.

Cooper didn’t clap.

He eventually sat down during an executive session and joked with his dad about scenes of a drunk Dennis Hopper in “Hoosiers” and Michael Douglas losing his mind in “Falling Down.”

The meeting started again, and Superintendent Curtis Philpot eventually brought up the walkout. He said he expected there to be more protests in April, including one to mark the 19th anniversary of Columbine.

He asked the school board if they had anything to say or any questions they wanted to ask. After a long silence, none of them disagreed students should be punished.

"We are a society of rules," one said.

Then, Board President David French said the students owe the school resource officer an apology.

Cooper immediately turned to his dad, who said he saw the blood seemingly drain from his son's face.

"It was like being shot all over again," he would later tell his dad about French's words. Back on the cold floor, looking for help.

As the school board moved on and began discussing a program that could arm teachers, Cooper put his head in his hands. He looked at his dad again:

“We should come to every single one of these things so that doesn’t happen."

The next day, he brought a petition to school and started gathering signatures.

This weekly column is a look around Butler and Warren counties from Enquirer Reporter Keith BieryGolick. Send tips, questions and hate mail to kbierygolick@enquirer.com.