(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
SPOKANE, Wash. -Students across the country are preparing for the national school walkout on March 14. Here in Spokane, a group of those students are at Sacajawea Middle School.
Clara, Tula, and Abigail say they have the same reaction when they hear about school shootings.
“We shouldn't have to be scared to go to school in the morning and our parents shouldn't have to be scared that we're not going to come back,” Tula says.
So, they wanted to be a part of the national school walkout to urge changes to make them safer. They started organizing at their school and even handed out permission slips that other students could give to their parents with information on what would happen. Their plan is to walkout to a totem pole in front of their school for 17 minutes to honor the 17 students and teachers killed in Florida. They've even written speeches.
But the students now say the school is making it harder for them to protest. They were told that their parents would have to go to the school to sign them out since they’re leaving the building.
Spokane Public Schools spokesperson, Kevin Morrison, tells KHQ this is their established policy for student K through 8. He says a parent has to sign out the student. For high school students, a parent calls in advance to excuse their child. The district adds safety is the most important thing.
These students say they are still going to participate in a walkout.
“Adults need to know that this isn't a generation that's going to accept another tweet, another short video of condolences. I think it's time we made real change,” Tula says.
To look at the students’ Instagram page they started with information on their walkout: https://www.instagram.com/sacwalkout/
For a link to SPS’s policy: https://weba.spokaneschools.org/polpro/View.aspx?id=679