Central Wisconsin students to join national school walkouts, could face discipline

Students across central Wisconsin will join others nationwide as they walk out of class on Wednesday to honor the shooting victims in Parkland, Florida, and to demand action on gun control.

The local walkouts are part of an event called ENOUGH: National School Walkout, scheduled one month after 17 students and staff members were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Walkouts will happen at 10 a.m. Wednesday across the country and will last 17 minutes, a minute for each victim.

Some local events in Wisconsin may vary in duration.

Wednesday's national walkout is organized in part by Women's March Youth Empower, a branch of the group that led the Women's March on Washington, D.C., in January 2017.

Among scheduled walkouts in central Wisconsin are student-led events at Stevens Point Area Senior High, Lincoln High School, Marshfield High School, Horace Mann Middle School in Wausau, Wausau West High School and D.C. Everest Senior High School.

Whether the students will be punished for their participation depends on which school they attend and their specific actions, according to administrators and principals who responded to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin.

For many schools, absentee rules still apply, so some form of punishment may come from unexcused absences or disrupting the school environment, administrators said. Others have said no punishment will come to students who choose to participate. None of the responding school officials threatened suspension.

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In Stevens Point, SPASH Principal Jon Vollendorf said that the school is treating it like any unexcused absence. Students who have parental permission would not face punishment per the attendance policy. Vollendorf said the school's approach is akin to a student needing to go to the doctor during school hours.

Cia Siab Vang, a senior at SPASH and an organizer of the school's walkout, said she received assurances that she and others wouldn't be punished by the school for walking out.

The walkout at SPASH will occur outside the high school and is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., when participants will observe a moment of silence, name the victims and listen to or give speeches.

The group organizing the SPASH walkout is Sisterhood, a Hmong social justice girls and women's group, Vang said.

A Facebook event for the SPASH walkout showed more than 70 people intend to go and another 110 have shown interest. There are about 1,500 students at SPASH, according to the Wisconsin school enrollment data.

Vang, 18, said she expects members of the community and students of University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point to also attend the walkout.

"It's about gun control, but more about assuring students are safe (in schools) and creating a safe space for students," Vang said.

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Students at D.C. Everest Senior High School in Weston will gather at the flag pole outside the school’s main entrance at 10 a.m. and observe a 17-minute moment of silence.

Senior Noah Witte said students believe something needs to be done in the wake of these shootings, and the walkout is the best way to elevate their voices.

“We really haven’t been seeing a lot of change recently,” he said.

Witte said at least 100 D.C. Everest students are expected to participate. A Facebook group for the event has 200 members, he said, and he hopes all of them will join. More than 1,230 students are enrolled at D.C. Everest High School.

Students won't be punished for walking out. Principal Tom Johansen said D.C. Everest's student rights and responsibilities code allows them to partake in a peaceful demonstration as long as it's not disruptive. The walkout will be held during the school's extended learning time, when there are no classes, he said.

School officials are not endorsing or condemning the walkout, Johansen said. Students are aiming to bring attention to the fact that schools should be safe, he said, and want adults to take notice.

"They’re students, and they feel they’re in harm’s way," he said.

After the Wednesday walkouts, an event called the March for Our Lives is scheduled for March 24 in Washington, D.C. Another national school walkout is planned on April 20, which coincides with the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School mass shooting in Colorado that left 15 people dead including the two teen gunmen.

RELATED: Students plan to walk out of schools to protest gun laws

At Lincoln High School in Wisconsin Rapids, Principal Ronald Rasmussen said that the school's absentee policy still applies. However, he said the school is willing to work with students and parents who wish to participate because they have a constitutional right to protest.

A Facebook event for the Lincoln High School walkout indicates more than 40 people will go, with nearly 50 people expressing interest. The Facebook post says school administrators will not punish students for the walkout. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.

In Wausau, Jeff Lindell, director of pupil services for the Wausau School District, said in a message to staff and parents that students may face punishment if they don't return to class within a short period of time, or if they leave the school grounds.

"A disruption to the educational environment may result in disciplinary action, appropriate to the level of disruption," Lindell said in his memo.

His note also said that Wausau school staff members accompanying students during a walkout are there only "to supervise and ensure student safety, and are not expressing a viewpoint or endorsement of the 'walkout.'”

In Marshfield, Carter Chojnacki, a junior at Marshfield Senior High, said in a news release that students will participate in the 10 a.m. walkout and moment of silence. Chojnacki also said the event will include a "die-out," where students will lie on the ground in silence to symbolize the students and teachers who lost their lives. Marshfield school officials did not return requests for comment.

In total, more than 60 walkouts will happen across Wisconsin, according to the organizers' website.