Treasure Valley Schools Require Parental Consent for National School Walk Out

In the aftermath of the tragedy in Florida, students from all over the country are coming together for a #NationalSchoolWalkout calling for tougher gun control.

The organizers behind the 17 minute walkout (a minute for each life lost in the most recent school shooting) are calling on the federal government to pass gun reform laws that will keep students safe from gun violence in their schools.  It's scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 14.

According to Channel 2, the Boise School District is considering participation in the walk out as an "unexcused absence" from class...that is, unless a parent gives their written or verbal consent for their child to participate in the peaceful protest. They're asking for that notification in advance and that parents follow the same procedures they would normally use if their child was sick, had a doctors appointment, etc.  The West Ada School District will use a similar procedure.

I'm not a parent, so I can't tell you what I would do if my child asked for me permission to miss class for the protest.  My hope is that students that choose to be part of the protest are doing it because they truly believe in what the walkout is all about and aren't just using it as an excuse to miss class.  (We were all in high school once and most of us would've done anything to miss class a time or two.)

That hope comes from my own personal experiences following the 1999 shooting at Columbine.  I woke up terrified to go to school for the next week, but my mom insisted everything was going to be ok. I reluctantly got on the bus and headed to middle school, only for all buses going to my school to be diverted to the high school.  The huddled us into the gym with no explanation of what was happening. Through rumblings between other students and some of our teachers, I eventually found out that a bomb threat called into our school. Two more threats like that were called in over the next few days. When they eventually caught the person behind the threats, they found out that it was a student who took advantage of schools being on high alert to find a way to get out of having to go to class.  He sat with the rest of us in that high school gym knowing that there was no real danger.

Since I'm not a parent, we asked out listeners how they would handle their child's participation in the walkout with the question "Will you grant your child consent to participate? Why or why not?"  Parents were divided. Here's what you told us via our Facebook page: