The organizers of a Walton High School walkout in favor of gun control say nearly 2,300 students have signed up for a planned protest on March 14.
That’s an overwhelming majority of the students at Walton, the second-largest high school in the Cobb County School District by enrollment, with nearly 2,700 students.
Natalie Carlomagno, a Walton sophomore, said in an interview with East Cobb News that an online petition to gauge possible student participation in the event got many more signatures after Cobb school officials announced last week they would not support the demonstrations.
“After that statement, our RSVPs skyrocketed,” Carlomagno said. “I think people will go through with it.”
The students are planning to walk out of their classes for 17 minutes, starting at 10 a.m., on March 14, in the memory of the 17 students and staff gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. last month.
Cobb school officials have cited safety reasons and disruptions of the school day for opposing this action, and said students could be subject to disciplinary action for violations of the student code of conduct.
Carlomagno said she and the other Walton organizers initially wanted the protest to take place in front of the school, under the flagpole, but there isn’t enough room.
She also said the logistics of the protest are also up in the air after she and other organizers met last week with Walton Principal Judy McNeill, who told them she was disappointed that they wanted to walk out.
Carlomagno said McNeill suggested the demonstration take place before school on the walkout day.
“That’s unacceptable,” Carlomagno said, insisting that the scheduled 10 a.m. walkout was the best way to show solidarity with the national protests.
Another suggestion was to allow the walkout to take place at the Walton football stadium, but Carlomagno said school officials didn’t want that.
(We’ve left a message with Walton officials and will update with a response.)
On Wednesday Cobb high school superintendents are getting together with high school-level district staff. Cobb school district spokesman John Stafford said it’s a regularly scheduled meeting to discuss a number of issues and topics.
“Will [the protests] be a topic of conversation? It will be hard to think it won’t be,” he said.
The district has not commented further on the walkouts except to reiterate the need to prioritize safety. Stafford said limiting the presence on high school campuses to students and staff is paramount.
While parents can come and pick up their children at any time, he said, others who may want to come to a school, especially individuals and organizations with an interest in the protest, will not be permitted.
“That’s part of our safety concern” about the walkouts, he said. “We’re not going to open up the campus to anyone who wants to come to campus.”
Stafford said there have been some suggestions from those in support of the walkouts that they would be no different than fire drills.
But having thousands of students walk out at the same time “most certainly is different,” he said.
“It’s not the same thing at all, from a security and safety standpoint.”
Carlomagno, who’s 15, said the Walton protest is to include a moment of silence for the Parkland victims, as well as a voter registration drive, and to let students know who their elected officials are. Although she and most Walton students are too young to vote, she said it’s important to let them know “what they can do to become more politically active.”
The shootings also hit home for Carlomagno, who grew up in Broward County, Fla., where Parkland is located. She said the similarities of Walton to the Parkland school, both with large suburban student bodies, have been mentioned by her friends.
“I keep hearing the conversations,” Carlomagno said, adding that she was reassured about safety measures at Walton after two “code red” drills were conducted last week.
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