Students around the country are organizing walkouts and other observances at 10:00 a.m. ET today to honor the victims of gun violence and stress the need for stricter gun control laws. As parents, we need to listen to and support them. Here are a few resources to help.
Here’s information on local events from Women’s March Youth EMPOWER, and here’s a useful piece from USA Today with an overview of students’ rights in protests. The ACLU has more on this as well (although many schools are in fact officially sanctioning observances). And here are a couple of lists of colleges who have said they will not penalize students in admissions who are disciplined by their high schools for taking part: one from the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and one from Alex Garcia, a third-year computer engineering major at UC San Diego, who works as a college ambassador for the university.
If our children choose to take part in one of the peaceful protests today, let us support them. If they choose not to, let us support them as well. While this is an important issue, walking out in the middle of the school day may have disciplinary or social ramifications that our teens—our wonderful yet changeable, hormonal, and vulnerable teens—may not want to deal with, for reasons beyond our limited parental understanding.
We can, however, support them regardless by letting our members of Congress and other elected officials know of our demand for stricter gun control laws. GovTrack has an easy way to look them up. The Brady Campaign offers several hints for writing impactful letters to elected officials, which may also be useful for phone calls. They also run the SPEAK UP hotline, where students can safely and anonymously report suspected weapon threats 24 hours a day, 7 days a week: 1-866-SPEAK-UP.
May the walkout today be peaceful, empowering, and lead to lasting positive change.