From the halls of Congress, across the nation and to the Twin Lakes Area, school safety was the topic at the forefront on Wednesday.
The U.S. House approved a bill to improve school safety in the wake of the shooting that left 17 dead at a Florida high school. The bill authorizes $500 million over 10 years for grants to improve training and coordination between schools and local law enforcement and help identify signs of potential violence before they occur.
Meanwhile schools across the country and locally participated in the National School Walkout day. Locally, the participation came as a surprise for school administrators who had told KTLO, Classic Hits 101.7 and The Boot news Tuesday they were not aware of students planning to engage in the nationally organized event.
National organizers called for students, teachers, school administrators and parents to take part in walking out of school at 10:00 Wednesday morning, across every time zone, to protest what they call “Congress’ inaction to do more than tweet thoughts and prayers in response to the gun violence plaguing our schools and neighborhoods.” The protest was scheduled to last 17 minutes in honor of the 17 Florida high school students.
At Mountain Home Public Schools, Dr. Jake Long, Superintendent, says students from three schools participated in the walkout.
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Dr. Long says while Mountain Home school officials were not aware students were planning to join the event, they were prepared for what turned out to be respectful participants.
At Yellville-Summit, Superintendent Wes Henderson says about 30 students quietly participated in the walkout near the flag pole. Henderson says the students, mostly seventh and eighth graders, stood quietly with heads bowed for 17 minutes and then walked back to their classrooms. He says observing the students he described as “great kids” was quite touching.
At Flippin, High School Principal Cassie Gilley says while students there did not participate in the walkout, they have chosen to collect funds to send to the Florida high school, an activity being coordinated by the school’s Student Council.
Cotter Superintendent Vanessa Thomas-Jones says while students there did not choose to participate in the event, school officials were prepared to accommodate them in a designated area.
Norfork High School Principal Bobby Hulse says students there did not participate in the walkout.
Nationwide, nearly 3,000 protests were reported on the one-month anniversary of the Florida school shooting.
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