YORK COUNTY — Though some schools are not encouraging participation school walkout events on Wednesday, they are working to ensure student’s safety and have said they will not discipline students who engage in peaceful protest. 

On Wednesday, students across the nation are organizing walkouts to protest gun violence and honor those killed at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month. 

Walkouts will be held at 10 a.m. on March 14, the one month anniversary of the school shooting and will be held for 17 minutes, symbolizing the 17 students that died as a result of the shooting.

Katie Hawes, superintendent of Regional School Unit 21, covering Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel, and Saco Superintendent Dominic DePatsy both stressed in recent letters to parents that the student walkout movement was a grass-roots, student-led effort and their school departments were not encouraging, supporting or facilitating walkouts. 

Both Hawes and DePatsy said that students at their schools will not face disciplinary action if protests are peaceful and non-disruptive to the educational environment. Students will be responsible for making up any missed work. 

Hawes said in an email that students participating in a walkout at Kennebunk High School will meet at a designated place on campus and the campus will be closed to the public. 
 
Hawes, like DePatsy said local law enforcement agencies stand ready to provide an increased presence on Wednesday. 

A group of students at Thornton Academy, a private school in Saco that serves publicly funded high-school students in Saco, Dayton and Arundel, plan on leaving campus at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, and have gained support from members of the greater community. 

Thornton Academy Headmaster Rene Menard stated in a letter to parents that the school was not organizing the walkout, and the school was not actively encouraging student participation in the student-led effort. 

“However, the Thornton Academy Board of Trustees, administrators, and faculty wholeheartedly share the students’ concern around the need for increased safety in schools, and do support their desire to voice their concerns around this issue in an orderly and peaceful manner,” said Menard. “We will leave individual decisions around participation to students and their families.”

Students who do participate in the walkout are expected to do so in a peaceful manner, Menard said, and will be responsible for any material missed during their absence from class. 

School administration have been working with police and there will be an increased presence by local police on Wednesday, he said. 

Regional School Unit 23 Superintendent John Suttie, who is also the Old Orchard Beach High School principal, said in a letter to parents that administration met with a group of students who said they want to make a peaceful statement related to the tragic events that took place in Parkland, Florida. 

“Out of an abundance of caution, we are asking that students remain indoors for this event. Students agreed that it would be safer to have a 17-minute indoor remembrance,” wrote Suttie.

Students who wish to participate in this event will go to the school cafeteria at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, said Suttie. Attendance will be voluntary, and those not interested may stay in their classrooms with their teachers, he said School staff and police will be on hand to facilitate “a safe and supportive environment” for students and classes will resume at 10:30 a.m., said Suttie. 

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or [email protected].