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Humboldt students who walked out face some punishment

“He let us go out. So if he would have stopped us, it would have made sense, but he didn’t stop us.”

HUMBOLDT — A pair of students at Humboldt High School believe the National School Walkout at their school on Wednesday could have been handled differently by administration.

Eryn Johnson, 15, a sophomore, said he and some of his friends participated in the nationwide movement to protest gun violence.

“My buddies and I walked out of school for the 17 minutes of silence for the victims in Florida,” he said.

Students all across the nation engaged in similar protests and staged walk-outs of their respective schools at 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

The movement was organized by Women’s March Youth Empower, an initiative of Women’s March Youth through a coalition with Peace First, Rise To Run, Teen Vogue, The Justice League NYC, The Gathering For Justice, and Rock The Vote, according to its website.

Johnson said he talked about the walk-out in front of one of the principals prior to 10 a.m.

“He didn’t say anything about it,” Johnson said. “He didn’t stop us from leaving. We left the building and stayed out there and later that day and today we got sent to the office and he was giving us warnings for leaving the building.”

Johnson said one of his friends was given a 45-minute detention for leaving the building.

“He didn’t stop us,” Johnson recalled. “He let us go out. So if he would have stopped us, it would have made sense, but he didn’t stop us.”

Johnson said he and his friends remained on school property for the duration of the protest.

“We stayed on the property,” he said. “We walked outside and we stayed towards the back of the high school where the door was, but we were sitting there.”

Johnson did not face any discipline other than an unexcused absence, he said.

“I had a math teacher who understood,” he said. “She just marked me as tardy.”

He added, “There were a handful of teachers who were supportive of doing it. Rodd Mooney said we should go out and do it. There were teachers who were OK with it, actually.”

Johnson said his experience was different at a previous school he attended.

“Back at my old school in Johnson City, Tennessee, when students were killed, we always left the building and had silence for the students it happened to,” he said. “So I was just doing what I did when I was younger. That’s how I was raised to do stuff at the school I went to.”

Sophie Carver, 18, a senior, said she doesn’t think students should have been given detention for the demonstration.

“We just didn’t think it was right for the school to give detentions for students protesting,” she said.

Carver didn’t participate herself, in part because she didn’t want to face the possible punishments.

She was told by other students that if she walked out she might get detention or in-school suspension.

“I didn’t really want to risk that because I am a senior,” she said.

She believes that the students who did protest were sincere.

“I think it was for sure to take it seriously,” she said. “People were posting on their Snapchat stories how important it was to them and that it’s kind of sad that people in this school community didn’t take them seriously. I think the people that did participate were doing it for the right reasons.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa sent an open letter to all Iowa public schools that provided information about ensuring students’ free speech rights.

In that letter, the ACLU encouraged schools to allow students to demonstrate peacefully without punishment.

Specifically, the ACLU encouraged educators to take the following steps:

• Interpret absentee policies liberally to allow students to attend demonstrations;

• Ensure that policies regarding on-campus speech allow ample room for public discussion;

• Foster discussion among students with different views; and,

• Provide historical context.

“This is a critical moment in the lives of a generation of students, who are learning that by raising their voices, they have the power to impact public policy,” Rita Bettis, ACLU of Iowa legal director, said in a written statement. “That knowledge is at the heart of an civically educated and engaged populace essential to the health of our democracy. Iowa educators must protect students’ First Amendment rights. Even beyond that, our letter today asks that schools embrace — rather than discourage — students’ attempts to demonstrate their concerns in a peaceful manner.”

Humboldt Superintendent Greg Darling reported on Thursday that there were “a few” students who participated in the National Walkout throughout the school system.

He said he wasn’t at the schools when the protests occurred.

“I think there were just a few at each,” he said.

When asked how the protests were handled by administration, Darling said, “it varied.”

He said he couldn’t comment specifically on whether or not any students were given detention.

“It could have been age appropriate,” he said. “I can’t say that part.”

Darling indicated that students who may have been given detention did not protest peacefully.

In the Fort Dodge Community School District, Superintendent Doug Van Zyl stated that participating students would be counted as absent from class but would not face punishment as long the protests were conducted peacefully. It would be considered an unexcused absence, he said.

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