Some schools in conservative districts are threatening to punish students who walk out in Wednesday’s anti-gun protests

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Thousands of students across the US will protest for gun control reform on Wednesday, by walking out of class. Some pupils risk punishment if they take part.

'Walkout' Wednesday: the essential information about the protests Read more

The public schools superintendent of Harford County, near Baltimore, has forbidden students from walking out, arguing it could be unsafe.

“We cannot condone students leaving classes during the instructional day to participate in this activity,” Barbara Canavan wrote to parents, guardians and students.

“It presents, paradoxically, a threat to student safety, as word of the walkout has been widely disseminated and students who go outside could become more vulnerable. We do not have adequate staffing and resources to supervise students who leave the school building to participate in a walkout.”

As of Monday evening, more than 2,850 walkouts were listed on the Women’s March Youth Empower website. The idea is that students – and staff – leave classes at 10am for 17 minutes, in honour of the 17 people killed one month earlier at a school in Parkland, Florida.

The Harford letter cautions that “students who leave buildings may be subject to disciplinary action for disrupting school operations”. That prompted parents and students to contact the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland. It wrote to Canavan to say disciplining students more severely for leaving class to exercise their free speech rights than for any other unauthorised absence would be a breach of the first amendment.

“The school system can’t single out students’ political speech for harsher punishment than it would any other student conduct,” Sonia Kumar, an ACLU staff attorney, told the Guardian.

A spokeswoman for the district did not respond to a request for comment. The district said it had prepared a “learning module” for discussions on gun violence.

Kimberly Lynch, whose 16-year-old daughter attends school in Harford county, said the protest “is cutting class, you are getting up and walking out, I’m not necessarily opposed to [some form of sanctions]. We were concerned that it would be above and beyond what’s reasonable.”

The safety claim, especially in a rural area, Lynch said, “is ridiculous. They go to sporting events, they have pep rallies, there’s football games, gym classes are outside. To say they’d be unsafe for that particular 20 minutes of time is kind of ridiculous.”

Other districts, including the city of Baltimore, are not intending to discipline students who protest peacefully, the Baltimore Sun reported.

Many students across the US have already staged disruptions. About 40 pupils at a Phoenix-area middle school received one-day suspensions for a walkout last month, the Arizona Republic reported.

The superintendent of the Needville Independent School District, near Houston, last month warned students they faced a three-day suspension for “any type of protest or awareness” during school hours. Most Texas schools, including in Needville, are however on spring break this week.

A school district in Wisconsin sent a cease-and-desist letter to a parent asking her not to use its name in promoting an event planned for Wednesday.

Some parents and students have sought to work with school officials. Hillary Bilik, the mother of a second-grader in Portland, Oregon, said arranging a walkout was a challenge given the sensitivity of the issue and the ages of children at her son’s school, ranging from kindergarten to eighth grade.

The plan is for the students to line up and hold hands in the hallways before heading to a field to form a giant circle, where she will speak.

“Schools can’t take a political stance and so that’s been a little bit tricky as a parent,” she said. “It’s very delicate and we do have a lot of concerned parents so I have to make sure not to use any dangerous words, we have to kind of generalise.

“But at the same time they do know what a lockdown drill is and they know what the purpose of that is, and hearing about bad guys coming into the schools and shooting up the school, that’s not unheard of, kids know that happens.”

Sara Jaffe, a student at Columbia College Chicago, said she had received encouragement as she arranged a walkout in a city notorious for gun crime.

“I was very inspired by the young [Parkland] student Emma Gonzalez, her speech the day after the shooting was really powerful to me and really reminded me that we all have a voice and we can make a difference,” Jaffe said.

“This walkout is important, as a demonstration, a peaceful protest, to say ‘No more!’ But it should be a catalyst for further discussion on what we’re going to do.”

Talia Sachs, who is helping to organise a walkout at a high school in St Paul, Minnesota, said the example of the Parkland students’ actions and Florida’s passage of a gun control bill was inspirational.