NEWSLETTERS
SUBSCRIBE

Print Edition

Log in
My Account
Log in
Subscribe
My Account
Log in

School walkouts planned across Colorado to memorialize Florida shooting

By JOEY BUNCH 03/13/2018 | updated 7 years ago

Dozens of walkouts are planned at Colorado high schools Wednesday at 10 a.m. to memorialize the Feb. 14 massacre at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Organizers say at least 2,500 schools nationwide are participating.

“We will no longer tolerate gun violence,” Jua Fletcher, Sofia Garcia and Sophie Cardin, student organizers at South High School in Denver, said in a joint statement Monday. “We demand that action be taken to protect our right to life and education. We need safe schools. We need comprehensive gun control.”

To see a list of participating Colorado schools, click here. Approval and discipline will vary by school.

Students at Denver’s South High are joining the chorus of teens calling for gun-control legislation. They are planning a 17-minute “sit out” on the school’s front lawn to commemorate the month since 17 students and faculty members were shot to death at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

In the press advisory, they said “students demand” policymakers:

The demands were handed down by EMPOWER, the group organizing the activities. EMPOWER is a young group affiliated with organizers of the Women’s March.

And if there was any doubt whether election-year activism is at play, the organizers said in a statement:

“We are not safe at school. We are not safe in our cities and towns. Congress must take meaningful action to keep us safe and pass federal gun reform legislation that address the public health crisis of gun violence. We want Congress to pay attention and take note: many of us will vote this November and many others will join in 2020.”

Kat Falacienski, a sophomore at Denver School of the Arts, told Colorado Politics she is organizing a march to the Capitol Wednesday, stopping at East High School to take part in its 17 minutes of silence, before DSA and East students continued on to the Capitol.

We are marching in solidarity with the Parkland survivors, and hope that our presence will bring about discussion and legislation for gun control,” she said.

Thank you,Kat

 
Jay Janner
JOEY BUNCH

Reporter

PREV

PREVIOUS

Colorado Republicans cancel contract with Best Western over nonexistent NRA snub

The Colorado Republican Party had arranged to hold a fundraising dinner and a slew of district assemblies at the Best Western hotel in Longmont on the eve of the party’s state assembly in Boulder next month. But after party officials got wind that the hotel chain had ended its affiliation with the National Rifle Association […]

NEXT

NEXT UP

Broadband bill for rural Colorado amended, but maintains momentum

A bill that could bring faster broadband internet service to rural Colorado bounced out a Colorado House committee Thursday and appears destined for the governor’s desk, eventually. Senate Bill 2, sponsored by Sens. Don Coram, R-Montrose, and Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, with the two top-ranking House Democrats, passed the House Agriculture, Livestock and Natural Resources Committee 10-1 […]
Welcome Back.

Streak: 9 days i

Stories you've missed since your last login:

Stories you've saved for later:

Recommended stories based on your interests:

Edit my interests