SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio — Following a mass shooting at a school in Texas that killed 19 children and two adults, students from Shaker Heights High School and Bay High School organized a walkout to protest gun violence and demand action from lawmakers.
On Cleveland’s East Side, students, with homemade signs in hand, walked out of Shaker Heights High School at approximately noon and peacefully protested.
Signs in hand read “enough is enough” and “I want to feel safe.”
Today at noon, students organized a walkout to the Front Lawn so that our SHHS Community can peacefully protest gun violence, grieve with the Uvalde community, and demand action from our lawmakers. Great to see our football players using their voice to promote peace and change! pic.twitter.com/xtJbyaPGoo
— Shaker Heights High School Football (@ShakerRaidersFB) May 26, 2022
Over on Cleveland’s West Side, students walked out of Bay High School in Village at approximately 12:40 p.m. with the same purpose.
Grades 9 through 12 held a peaceful walkout in front of the school to show solidarity for the students, families and staff of Robb Elementary School.
The walkout lasted for about 21 minutes to represent the 21 lives lost. Bay High School has approximately 800 students, and about 25% of the student body participated in the walkout.
School Resource Officer Benjamin Kitchen was onsite during the protest to ensure the students were safe as they peacefully protested.
“I appreciate that the student organizers shared their ideas with me ahead of time, and chose the least disruptive time during their school day to show their solidarity,” said Bay High School Principal Jason Martin. “I see this as a learning opportunity for our students. They have the right to exercise their freedom of speech, and they did it in a very respectful manner.”
“We praise our students for exercising their free speech rights. They are choosing to actively participate in civil discourse by planning a peaceful demonstration in support of an issue that they care deeply about,” said superintendent Char Shryock. “Mr. Martin kept the dialogue open with our students, and we appreciate that they shared their plan for today with the staff.
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