Superintendent says students can’t hold walkout, organizer looks to find other ways to get them involved

Published 8:09 am Tuesday, March 13, 2018

DALTON, Ga. — Hayley Caldwell says she will not be walking out of class at Northwest Whitfield High School on Wednesday.

Caldwell, a junior, had planned to organize a walkout at 10 a.m. to honor the 17 people killed during a shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., last month, and to discuss how to reduce violence and improve school safety. Whitfield County Schools Superintendent Judy Gilreath had originally given permission for the walkout but on Monday, citing safety concerns, she rescinded that permission.

In a letter to parents, students and staff on Monday Gilreath wrote, “After further thought and discussions within the administration, however, I have made the decision not to approve a student walkout during the school day on Wednesday. As always, the safety of our students and staff is at the top of my list of priorities, and I feel that allowing students to be outside at an announced time is not the best course of action.”

Gilreath said the safety of students and staff led her to reconsider the decision.

“If some students wish to use the time to protest guns in schools, others may feel strongly otherwise, and confrontations could ensue,” she wrote. “The possibility of individuals from outside the school community being drawn to the campuses poses risks we simply cannot ignore.”

Caldwell said she “was not necessarily upset with her (Gilreath’s) decision because I understand how some of the online comments would lead her to believe it would not be safe.”

“I was more upset with the way people reacted at the idea of teenagers speaking out,” she said. “We are citizens, too. Many of us are voting or will be voting soon. I will be voting soon.”

Caldwell said she is now trying to organize something that will not take place during school hours for students to make their voices heard.

And while a nationwide walkout that is being organized for Wednesday by survivors of the Parkland shooting is aimed at asking for more gun control, Caldwell said that was never her intention.

“We wanted to honor (those slain in Parkland), and to discuss potential solutions,” she said. “Not necessarily pro or against gun control, but to discuss it and other options. It would have been open to people who are for gun control, against gun control. Just to get young people involved and talking to each other. If someone didn’t think gun control was the solution, that something else was the solution, I wanted to discuss that as well.”

While Caldwell doesn’t plan to walk out on Wednesday, she said she has heard some students say they still might.

Dalton Public Schools Director of Communications Pat Holloway said officials there do not know of any plans for a walkout at any of that system’s schools.

“Both Dalton High and Dalton Middle have other plans in the works to help their students have a voice in what we hope would be a more meaningful way through a forum with officials (both local and state hopefully) at a point in the future or writing letters to the congressmen, etc.,” she said in an email.

Caldwell said that if Whitfield County Schools officials are interested in holding a forum with elected officials, she is open to working with them on that.

Holloway said the school system’s code of conduct “does indicate that any behavior that creates a disruptive activity on campus could be grounds for disciplinary action.”

Christian Heritage School Head of School Kent Harrison said he did not know of any students there planning to walk out.

“We have provided ample time for discussions of these issues,” he said. “We believe our students should have the ability to speak their minds, and we try to provide that opportunity on a daily basis.”

Harrison said if there is a walkout “we will address it at that time.”

Murray County Schools acting Superintendent Steve Loughridge did not immediately respond to a message left for him at the central office on Monday.