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Thursday, March 22, 2018

Walkout fallout: Districts hit with backlash over political activism

The gun control movement notched a public relations coup with last week’s massive school walkouts, but now school districts that pitched in to ensure the protest’s success are stuck with the rising political and legal fallout.

A week after the March 14 walkout, school officials are grappling with complaints from parents outraged by the specter of their kids engaged in political protesting on school time, as well as reports of criminal mischief committed by teens who treated the event as a get-out-of-class-free card.

What’s more, the students get to do it all again next month. A substantially identical event, also called the National School Walkout, is scheduled for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre.

Chris Cleveland, chairman of the Chicago Republican Party, said he worried that the walkouts, aimed at pushing for tougher gun restrictions in the wake of the deadly Parkland shooting, have provided the template for advocacy groups eager to co-opt the public schools for progressive activism.

“If they get away with this, they’ll be free to engage in any kind of political activity in the schools that they wish,” said Mr. Cleveland, who has a third-grader in the Chicago Public Schools.

The party is moving to avert that scenario by preparing a lawsuit against the school system, arguing that the district violated state and federal law as well as its own policies by organizing a political demonstration — and pressuring students to attend — on the taxpayers’ dime.

The district has yet to comment, but it has other problems. About 60 students from Simeon Career Academy trashed a Walmart “while they were supposed to be protesting guns,” an incident under investigation by police, according to Fox32 in Chicago.

More here

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

How many from Simeon Career Academy will make this their career?

Steve said...

How about "National Guard Your School Day" where all 18 year old gun owners bring their legally owned slinged rifles and shotguns to school and the SRO can bring a large gun rack for them. Students may guard the hallways armed for one class period in each hallway taking turns and storing their weapons in the gun rack guarded by the SRO while in their other classes until the end of the day? Guns would be unloaded and cased at the end of the day for the ride home.

I'll bet there will be NO school shootings that day!

Concerned Retiree said...

This is a disgrace allowing this type of indoctrination. If schools are going to allow this type of action instead of teaching the students then take their tax dollars until they prove that students are being taught what they need to survive in life and so they can think for themselves in life.

Anonymous said...

So the schools bypassed the parents and released underage children into the street without parental notification ? There should be lawsuits.

Anonymous said...

60 trashed a Walmart,well thats about what you could expect from that bunch of future prison inmates.

Anonymous said...

well since the libs are always crying it's about/for the children then why don't we have a national walkout day over abortion?

Anonymous said...

I've no problem with the walkout over guns.
BUT, they have to be allowed to walk out over being pro-life, bad lunch program, or whatever else they want.