About 100 Cedar High students walk out of class in memory of shooting victims

CEDAR CITY — About 100 Cedar High School students participated in a planned walkout event as part of a nationwide movement intended to call attention to school safety and ending gun violence in schools. After leaving the school building shortly after 10 a.m., the students congregated on the football field for a few minutes before walking a lap or two around the track and heading back to class.

The National School Walkout event took place on the one-month anniversary of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school that killed 17 people. Authorities captured the suspected shooter, a 19-year-old former student, shortly after the attack.

Caleb Enman, a junior at Cedar High, said he was in the middle of his first period cooking class when he and a few of his friends decided to take part in the walkout.

“Some people did it to just ditch class,” he said. “But to me, it’s all about bullying. We should try to get to know people better, and help them out.”

One freshman, who later asked not to be identified by name, said she participated as a way of honoring of the shooting victims and their families.

“The parents of those victims will never see their children again,” she said. “It could’ve easily been stopped.”

Cedar High freshmen MaKell Corry and Haylee Hobbs were among several students wearing shirts identifying themselves as members of the school’s “Hope Squad.” Approximately 15 students in each grade level belong to the group, which strives to prevent teenage bullying and suicide.

“We try to help other people,” said Hobbs, adding that the group members have received specialized training on how to assist their peers who may be struggling. Hope Squad members work closely with school counselors and administrators.

Read more: $15,000 grant aims to prevent youth suicide, schools develop Hope Squads

After walking out to the middle of the football field shortly after 10 a.m., the Cedar High students appeared to be unsure of what to do next. No one spoke out or addressed the crowd as a whole.

“We’re supposed to have 17 minutes of silence for the 17 victims,” Corry said, shortly before the students began walking quietly along the track that encircles the field.

After most students had walked around the track once or twice, they headed back to class as the planned 17-minute event wound to a close

Cedar High Principal John Dodds said even though he and other school officials weren’t sure how many students might choose to participate, “We decided to have something organized and safe, just in case.”

Teachers were also directed to not mark students absent or tardy if they participated, as long as they returned to class right after the walkout event, Dodds said.

The National School Walkout was observed at different levels and in different ways around the country. Many students took to social media, using hashtags like #Enough, #NationalSchoolWalkout and #ParklandStrong to show their solidarity and support.

Some schools chose to provide alternative ways of engaging students.

Cedar Middle School Principal Belynda Murray said in an email to parents Tuesday, that after meeting with the students on the school’s Student Leadership Team, the students decided to hold a special advisory class session at the end of the day Wednesday, during which they could write letters, notes or drawings related to the issue, if they chose to do so.

Murray said the student leaders wanted to show their support to the victims of the Florida shooting “in a respectful manner.”  

“They felt that a lot of students would use a walkout event as an excuse to just goof around and make light of the events in Florida,” Murray said in the email. “Instead, the Student Leadership Team has decided that they would like to show respect in a way that makes a difference when it comes to school shootings and other forms of violence in the schools. They would like to be able to have the voices of the students really heard in a way that they feel walking out of class wouldn’t do.”

Murray noted that the suggested activities were optional and that students who chose not to participate could just use the advisory period as regular study time.

“As a school community, we want to support our students whenever possible to allow them to have a voice on a local, state, and national level,” she added. “We are very proud of our Student Leadership Team and the insight that was shown as we met together today to make a plan for tomorrow that they feel allows them to share their voice, and make a difference safely, while still allowing students to choose if they want to participate.”

Elsewhere in Cedar City, both Canyon View High School and Canyon View Middle School saw very little participation, with only a handful of students at either school taking part in Wednesday’s walkout. But officials at both schools said they encourage students to continue to actively address issues related to bullying and violence.

“Talk to 17 new people, make some new friends,” Canyon View Middle School Principal Rob Wagner said he told students Wednesday morning.

Iron County School District Superintendent Shannon Dulaney reiterated the district’s commitment to school safety.

Read more: Active shooter drills prepare school staff, police for the unthinkable

“I do want to make sure that the community knows our students’ safety is a priority,” Dulaney said Wednesday morning. For example, she said the district is looking at how to implement and install lockdown systems that can secure a building’s exterior doors all at once. The new North Elementary School building already has such a system in place, and Dulaney said the district is looking at funding options to install similar systems at other schools.

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