National School Walkout tests Louisville students' resolve in push for gun reform

Mandy McLaren
Courier Journal
Atherton High School sophomore Leo Hickerson walks out of her school as she joins other students throughout Louisville, Kentucky and the country in a national school gun violence walkout. Her sign reads "Children are more important than your guns. If you disagree, there is something seriously wrong with you."
April 20, 2018

In what was supposed to be a solemn remembrance of school shooting victims — as well as a call to action for stricter gun laws — a crowd of roughly 100 students at Atherton High School walked out of school on Friday, many of them laughing while they lingered, while others rushed off and disappeared for the day.

Standing among them with a lone protest sign was sophomore Leo Hickerson, who said she was disheartened to see her peers not taking the National School Walkout seriously.

"Most kids are going to go back to class or they’re just going to use this as an excuse to not do anything," she said. "But I really take this seriously, and I wanted to get something done and put my message out there."

The walkout at Atherton was one of thousands planned nationwide marking the 19th anniversary of the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. Student organizers had called for youths to walk out of school at 10 a.m. across every time zone and, rather than returning to class, use the remainder of the day to protest for gun reform.

More:5 things you missed from National School Walkout Day in Kentucky

Friday's demonstrations were the latest in a wave of activism sparked by the shooting at a Florida high school in February that killed 17 people. In the months since the shooting, thousands of students across the country have staged walkouts and participated in marches.

In Louisville, students organized walkouts at dozens of schools on March 14 — one month after the Florida shooting — and a student-led "March for Our Lives" on March 24 drew more than 1,000 supporters to the steps of Metro Hall.

But fewer local students appeared to participate in Friday's walkout, calling into question the organization, motivation and attention span surrounding an issue many youths have said is important to them.

Leo, the Atherton student, said she wasn't sure her peers "fully got the point or the message" of the walkout.

Related:Democrats push gun reform in Kentucky following deadly school shootings

“It’s fine if they don’t want to come out, but to just come out here and make jokes and just laugh it off and then go back inside is kind of just sad,” she said.

Many students didn't know about the walkout — or its connection to Columbine — until Friday morning, freshman Grace Kissel said.

Grace, who walked out and did not return to class, said students were better prepared for the March 14 walkout. Prior to that protest, they met in the school auditorium to discuss their plans and gained the support of their teachers, she said.

“It was an open discussion, and everyone was informed,” Grace said. “And when the time came, we all knew what we were doing and no one got disciplined, and I feel like we were still able to get our point across.”

During that walkout, which was called for by the survivors of the Parkland, Florida, shooting, students exited school for 17 minutes — one minute to commemorate each of the 17 lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Atherton High School students join other students throughout Louisville, Kentucky and the country in a national school gun violence protest walkout.
April 20, 2018

Background:Three weeks after Marshall County shooting, survivors watch Florida tragedy unfold

As long as they returned to class afterward, Jefferson County Public Schools said students would not be disciplined.

The district put forth the same policy for Friday's demonstration. But because the event was to last all day, students said they didn't know how to organize for it.

Fear of being punished caused many students to skip the walkout entirely or to head back inside after about 20 minutes, freshman Maggie Lucas said.

Lucas, who was born after the Columbine shooting, said she and several of her peers chose to commit to the full-day walkout to get their point across. They are tired of feeling unsafe at school, she said.

"Since we’re minors, we’re looked at differently, and we're treated like babies," Lucas said. "But we do have our own opinions. And although those change as we grow, we should be able to stand up for what we believe in."

Vannetty Coffee, 17, also walked out for the day, but she said she wasn't worried about whether the school would issue consequences.

"I'm standing up for who I am," she said. "I am walking out out to represent that we are affected by this."

Across JCPS, students walked out at six high schools, district spokeswoman Toni Konz said. On March 14, more than dozen schools had walkouts.

Participation also appeared to be down in Southern Indiana.

More:Marshall County school shooting survivor: 'Nobody should have to go through this'

At Silver Creek High School in Sellersburg, the site of a walkout in March, no students left school to protest on Friday.

West Clark Schools interim Superintendent John Reed said school administration had heard rumors of a planned walkout and that students were supposed to wear orange — the color of the national walkout movement.

“I didn’t see a lot of orange,” he said.

But at other area schools, students chose other ways to demonstrate their concerns.

At Assumption High School, students wore orange wristbands or hair ribbons to show "solidarity" with the movement, said Theresa Schuhmann, an assistant principal at the all-girls Catholic school.

And at duPont Manual High School, the site of a massive walkout last month, students organized a letter-writing campaign, junior Audrey Champelli said.

Instead of walking out, Audrey and a group of her peers passed out materials to students on Friday, including pre-addressed envelopes to Kentucky Sens. Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul, a list of gun violence statistics, a phone script to use when contacting lawmakers, and instructions on how to register to vote.

Audrey said the lack of organized walkouts in the Louisville area doesn't mean local students stopped caring about the cause, adding she had "a lot of respect" for those that did walk out.

Atherton High School sophomore Leo Hickerson walks out of her school as she joins other students throughout Louisville, Kentucky and the country in a national school gun violence walkout. Her sign reads "Children are more important than your guns. If you disagree, there is something seriously wrong with you."
April 20, 2018

Opinion:I was shot twice at Marshall County High School. Now I want change.

"Walking out in and of itself sends a message," she said. "If I'm not going to be safe at school, why should I be at school at all?"

At Doss High, students staged an early morning walkout to avoid disturbing a previously scheduled ring ceremony, junior Evelin Figueroa said.

At Louisville Collegiate School, about 80 students walked out for the entire day, senior Piper Burke said. But rather than going home, they walked to Cherokee Park where they wrote messages in chalk on the pavement, such as "Never Again," she said.

"We thought walking out would really show our state legislators that this is an issue that's not going away," she said. "It's not a moment — it's a movement."

The Collegiate students worked closely with school administrators to plan the walkout and would not be disciplined, Piper said.

Back at Atherton, most students returned to school after the morning walkout in time for the start of the next class period. 

A few upperclassmen drove off on their own, while a handful of younger students waited on the sidewalk for their parents to pick them up.

“We could have done a lot better to organize this,” said Grace, shivering in a T-shirt while she waited for her ride.

"A chaotic message doesn’t get delivered the right way," she said. "And if we look unorganized, then no one’s going to take it seriously."

Reporter Justin Sayers contributed to this story. Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/mandym.