DIS parents sound off about National School Walkout Day activities

When Daniel Island resident Heather Jones’ children started asking her thought-provoking questions about gun violence in the wake of the Parkland, Florida shooting, she knew they were struggling with how to process the tragedy. They wanted to talk about it, she said.

So, when it was announced late Tuesday, March 13, that schools in the Berkeley County School District, including Daniel Island School, would not allow students to take part in National School Walkout Day (NSWD) on March 14 without disciplinary action, Jones was disheartened.

“In my mind, I felt like students had decided in Florida ‘nobody is listening to us – so we’re going to demonstrate.’ When our administration did that, they decided to take away our children’s voices, and they need to talk through this. They’re concerned. They’re scared. And they’re feeling like they’re not being listened to. I was very disappointed.”

In a BCSD message sent out to school families the night before, the district stated that upon receipt of legal advice from counsel and review of board policy they “cannot promote any political protest or do any such act that transforms our schools into arenas for political activity.”

“Although the district believes in the democratic process, promoting or permitting one protest necessarily would cause the District to have to do the same for other protests,” the statement continued.

“We can’t discriminate on ideology,” explained Katie Orvin, public information officer for BCSD. “…We have 44 schools and over 36,000 students to consider. We understand the frustration. Sometimes legal counsel weighs in and we have to respect that opinion.”

Berkeley County School Board Member Mac McQuillin added that the school board has a longstanding official policy that does not allow political activities of any kind to occur during the school day.

“The District administration followed this policy, and as a result, the interruption to the instructional day was minimal,” stated McQuillin, a Daniel Island resident. “As a lawyer, it is not lost on me that if the District did not follow its policy and this protest was supported then, as a District, we would have to allow similar protests on all other types of speech -- from abortion, the death penalty, gun rights, etc. Although all of these are important political issues of our times, my focus as a school board representative is on the academic instruction of our students, and I will continue to focus on achievement while relying on our parents to support the moral and political enlightenment of our youth.”

The Charleston County School District did allow students to participate in peaceful demonstrations on NSWD, as did students at Daniel Island-based Bishop England High School, where prayers were recited during a morning program in the courtyard and roses were placed by students on individual signs memorializing the victims.

Per guidelines issued by the BCSD, schools could conduct a 170 second moment of silence to remember the lives lost in the Parkland shooting, but if students elected to walk out of class, or participate in any other non-sanctioned manner, they would face disciplinary action.

“BCSD school followed our standard policies just as they would any other day,” said Orvin.

But to parents like Jones, whose eighth-grade daughter did not walk out at Daniel Island School due to fear of reprisal, that decision didn’t seem fair. She believes the day could have provided valuable teachable moments.

“It’s so therapeutic and cathartic (to be able to express yourself),” said Jones, who also has a child at Academic Magnet High School, which did allow students to take part in NSWD activities. “I feel like it was such a missed opportunity in so many ways.”

Jones wasn’t alone. Comments soon flooded in to social media pages about the situation.

“They have (a) first amendment right to protest,” wrote one parent on the Daniel Island Moms Facebook page. “I’m proud of all kids who weighed their choices and made the one best for themselves. Both my children walked in Berkeley County.”

“If children walked out why not listen to them (?)” asked another commenter. “Maybe your children are not comfortable with easy access to guns. Maybe this generation will strengthen gun laws. I certainly think most of the high schoolers can think for themselves. I demonstrated against the Vietnam War and also got grief.”

“My daughter…stood quietly and peacefully in the hallway outside of her class,” another parent stated. “Received a referral, which will go on her permanent record, and will be missing field day and movie morning. I am proud of her for standing up for her beliefs. I’m so glad she has found the courage at such a young age to stand up for what she feels.”

But not all agreed that National School Walkout Day was a good idea for schools or students.

“A lot of kids, middle school…just want to disagree with anything,” noted another post on the Daniel Island Moms Facebook page. “Instead of disrupting school, why not sit with the lonely kid, smile at the new kid, spread love…Obviously some of these people have never been in school as a teacher!”

“They are not mature enough yet to be catapulted into the political arena,” wrote another. “There’s a difference between memorializing and protesting/walking out. The latter is no place for children. Kids and protesting should never be in the same sentence. As if kids todayaren’t thrown into maturity too early already. Makes me so sad.”

When commenting on NSWD, some on social media suggested that parents were the ones pushing kids to react. South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster also questioned the motivation behind the movement, reportedly stating that children were being used as tools by left-wing groups to further their own agenda. Jones wholeheartedly disagrees.

“It was interesting to me to hear some people say this was parents putting political ideas into children’s brains,” she said. “Here’s how I respond to that – developmentally when you look at this period, this is a period of time when adolescents move from adolescence to adulthood. They are pushing the boundaries and thinking for themselves. They are no longer listening to what mom is saying. …When people say this is parents pushing their own agenda, they must not have a teen.”

Jones took it upon herself to create a Facebook poll on the Daniel Island Moms page to gauge just how many students were given referrals or some other form of disciplinary action for taking part in a NSWD activity. By Friday of last week, 27 had voted “yes” to that question, while 21 indicated their children made the decision to not to participate because of the consequences of walking out.

According to Orvin, some students in the district received verbal warnings for walking out of classrooms, some received written warnings, and some received tardies if they were late. It was up to the individual administrators at each school, she said.

“There was no specific punishment for any participation at the high school or middle school level,” she said. “We didn’t have kids being suspended or physically kept from participating…The misconception is you punished me for participating and that’s not true. It was the same infraction as it would have been on any other day.”

Jones and some other social media commenters also questioned whether fear or intimidation was used by teachers and or administrators to keep kids from taking part. Orvin said that was simply not the case.

“They have to be neutral,” she explained, referencing school staff members. “I can’t speak to how a student interpreted that. A lot of this is personal interpretation. But they can’t be encouraging or discouraging, they have to remain neutral.”

All in all, Orvin reported that the majority of the feedback the district has received has been positive.

“We didn’t get too many people who weren’t supportive,” said Orvin. “When I talked to our administrators they had nothing but positive things to say…Yes, they did have to offer warnings and give tardies. But overall, they felt like the students conducted themselves in a very respectful and mature manner when dealing with a very difficult issue.”