A school walkout was executed in order to remember and mourn the 17 lives lost in the Parkland, Florida shooting on February 14. Although there were students out there who understood what they were standing in silence for, a vast majority were using it as an excuse to ditch class with no consequence. The staff believes that the thoughts and intentions were in the right place, but the overall execution was not organized in a proper way.

Having students leave class to protest something is not necessary for school. We are not at school to protest. The shootings are horribly tragic and no child should ever have to go through that or be afraid at school. We feel terrible not just for those who died, but for those who lived and who will keep those scars forever. This does not change the fact that there is still a time and place to discuss these sensitive topics.

A better option would have been to hold a memorial and protest outside of school for those who truly care and understand, not during school for students to use as an excuse to skip class. We felt that some of those students were using tragedy as a means to be lazy. We also felt it was disrespectful for those who died in the shooting and for those still grieving who had been quoted saying that they didn’t want any of these messages or protests and instead wanted justice and charity as well as some peace.

If a difference is what we wanted to make then we should have donated or given some sort of charity— something that they really need. If we wanted to change the laws or safety regulations, then we should have protested somewhere where it mattered such as the White House or Congress where it would be far more noticeable.

Although the intentions were pure, the protest had done more harm than good. It took students out of their learning environment to protest the environmental safety of their learning. A school should feel safe and a school should be for learning. Bringing these adult matters into a place where many are not mentally mature enough to understand or handle the information is not the way to go.