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Students Ready To Walk Out On Wednesday Over School Shootings

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Students across the Sacramento region are planning a walkout on Wednesday.

They say they're standing in solidarity with the victims of the Parkland school shooting in Florida, while also calling for gun control measures.

School districts around the region have been planning for safety measures ahead of Wednesday's demonstration.

McClatchy High School is having one of the biggest walkouts. Students will bring out 17 desks here to the front of the school to honor the shooting victims.

"School is this important thing to us, and we wanna feel safe and comfortable and informed about the world, the environment," said junior Maya Steinhart.

Steinhart is passionate about making a difference in her community. She's ready to make her voice heard during Wednesday's walkout, where more than 100 students are expected to participate.

"It proves that we have power and we are actually going to make this change," Steinhart added.

Steinhart says the walkout is a plea for Congress to come up with new laws to keep students safe on campus.

"It'll be a completely silent protest because in this case, we feel that silence is more, is louder," said student body president Daisy Lewis.

The walkout is supposed to last for 17 minutes to honor the 17 victims who died in the Parkland school shooting in Florida last month.

"We are fully supportive of our students' amendment rights to advocate for the causes they believe in," said Alex Barrios, chief spokesman for Sac City Unified.

Barrios says Sac City Unified is onboard with the walkout, but he says students who don't return to class will be marked absent.

"We've done trainings with all of our principals to make sure they are trained on how to work with our students to plan activities," said Barrios.

Other districts around the region have stricter rules for Wednesday.
Officials at San Juan Unified say students who walk out will face disciplinary action.

At Folsom-Cordova Unified, students will be marked absent if they leave campus.

Some students say the walkout isn't about rebelling; it's about coming together to call for action.

"Knowing that there are so many students at McClatchy and across the nation that share and champion this cause, I really feel like we can make some serious change," Steinhart said.

The students will be joined by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra and state Sen. Kevin DeLeon who will come to McClatchy High Wednesday morning to support the cause.

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