Local school systems prepare for National School Walkout protest

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — School districts across metro Atlanta are putting out their plans for students and faculty about the anticipated student protests against gun violence that will take place across the country.

The ENOUGH National School Walkout will be held on March 14 -- exactly one month after the mass shooting at a Florida high school that killed 17 people and sent shock waves across the nation.

The event will be at 10 a.m. across every time zone and will last 17 minutes -- one minute for each of the victims gunned down in the Feb. 14 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

The movement's founder says 60 school walkouts in metro Atlanta are planned for Wednesday.

“I think that this walkout is important so people can come out and see there are a lot of other people who believe in responsible commonsense gun laws and that we’ve got to stop this,” said Clare Schexnyder, of the Facebook group Stop School Shootings.

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Schexnyder says the movement doesn't just apply to schools. She said she encourages everyone to wear orange and walk out of their buildings at 10 a.m.

"This is much broader than just a school walkout. It's an everybody walkout," she said.

Schexnyder. a Decatur mother, started the idea for the walkout on her Facebook page. She said it started with a small meeting in her living room, but people across the country responded on social media.

"On Friday, we had 10,000 people in our group and we've grown to thousands now in this national stop school shootings movement," she said.

The walkout's goal is "to demand Congress pass legislation to keep us safe from gun violence at our schools, on our streets and in our homes and places of worship," according to the event. Schools in 49 states are participating.

"It's got to be that our kids are more important than our guns. They're more valuable and it's not debatable any longer," Schexnyder said.

Some schools said they would punish students who participate in the walkout, but a coalition of legal and civil rights groups are lining up to provide assistance for students who want to participate.

"We stand with any young person that exercises their First Amendment right and we will be at your door if you discipline them in any kind of way," said Gerald Griggs, with the NAACP.

Cox Media Group