We as adults need to do what we can to support the underage teens at the same time as we let them take the lead. What we can definitely do is come together and call and email schools pulling fuckery like this:
School punishes student walkout by locking them out and not allowing them school bus rides home
From the article linked in the above:
Riverview Gardens officials told students that they would not be allowed to come back onto campus to complete the rest of the school day after walking out. Officials also said they would not be allowed to ride school buses home.
https://www.rgsd.k12.mo.us/
Some students tried to return to school but were blocked from entering the campus by school officials.
Many students also said that, as they were walking out, they were told by school officials that they would be suspended.
This is clearly a way to punish protesting students. I can’t imagine what kind of excuse they could have come up with for refusing to let kids back into school or use the school buses to get home. It’s both fucked up and I imagine potentially unsafe. How are some of these kids supposed to get home? Hitchhike?
Also, it is very likely unconstitutional to suspend students for participating in walkouts. I don’t know why schools hate their students so much that they want to risk having the courts come down on their asses. But schools can only give students a standard punishment for an unexcused absence. Any additional punishment is a violation of freedom of speech.
Repeat after me, kids. You 100% have full First Amendment rights, and that does NOT change when you walk onto school grounds.
And fellow adults! You know what’s really effective? Pretending to be an enraged parent (or being one) and calling a school to yell at them for threatening students and leaving them out in the cold.
Riverview Gardens High School Phone #: (314) 869-4700