Tragedy struck in El Paso, Texas when an 11-year-old boy was hit and killed by a pickup truck as he attempted to cross a busy highway. The sixth-grader was a participant in the school’s anti-gun walkout. He and a group of about a dozen other children illegally crossed a busy highway without adult supervision to visit the park across the street. The protests were taking place on campus on the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting. Many schools in the United States participated in the second round of walkouts to advocate for tougher gun laws following school shootings.
According to school authorities, supervision was only present on two sides of the campus during the walkout. The children left campus on an unsupervised side of the school prior to crossing the highway. The young boy was the last student to cross when he was hit. The driver of the pickup truck remained on scene and isn’t expected to face charges. No other children present were injured. After facing a backlash from social media and calls for schools to stop endorsing walkout protests, a school administrator referred to the tragedy as an “isolated incident” and stressed the importance of supporting student protesting.
This isn’t the first time incidents have occurred during school-sanctioned walkout protests. During the first round of nationwide school walkouts in March, a Walmart in Chicago was trashed by students who left campus during the protests.
Schools need to stop allowing these walkouts to occur on campus. They’ve been done and now it’s time to protect the students. These walkouts take place during school hours when parents depend on school staff to ensure the safety of their children. Many students aren’t even participating because they support the cause. It gives students an opportunity to get out of class, which many will gladly take advantage of.
While high school students might be equipped with enough knowledge to understand the nature of Second Amendment discussions in today’s political climate, sixth graders are far too young. How can schools expect 11-year-old children to understand what they are even protesting about? Sadly, the children in El Paso did what unsupervised children do. The school released a statement regarding how saddened they are over the loss, yet still distastefully managed to throw in support for the protests.
No more. It’s time for schools in the United States to do their job and provide education in a safe environment.
Parents don’t send their children to school to protest random political topics or situations. Schools need to start enforcing their own rules and policies regarding students skipping class. I’ve noticed that some schools have tried doing so only to be met with liberal outrage after students were written up for protesting during school hours. While students should be encouraged to exercise their constitutional rights, they also need to be guided to follow rules and laws. The loss of just one child should be enough to convince school administrators across the nation to stop allowing students to walk out of class.