KC area students participating in national school walkout

One month after 17 were killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Fla., hundreds of students in the Kansas City metropolitan area walked out of their schools on Wednesday in a demonstration.

The school walkouts in the Kansas City area were a part of a planned national walkout day held at high schools and universities around the country.

Several student groups were taking action in the Kansas City Public Schools.

About 100 students from Lincoln College Preparatory Academy were gathering Wednesday morning for a march to City Hall, district spokesman Ray Weikal said.

Students were also gathering outside East High School Wednesday morning, and at least one of the elementary schools — Phillips Elementary — had students planning to step outside.

Southeast High School was planning an afternoon protest, Weikal said. The district is allowing the students to protest without any penalties, he said.

"We see this as a learning opportunity," Weikal said. "We support the students right to freedom of expression."

The protests are student-led and facilitated by each school individually, he said. "We're keeping students safe."

Last week, hundreds of students at St. Teresa's Academy in Kansas City, an all-girls Catholic school, held out a walkout. It was one of the first schools in the Kansas City area to hold a demonstration in support of stricter gun laws since the Parkland school shooting.

Like students at many other schools in the Kansas City area, St. Teresa students are on spring break during Wednesday's national walkout day. Many said they were going with parents or teachers to the Kansas City "March for Our Lives" at Frank A. Theis Park.

Center High School students in South Kansas City gathered at their football field.

Grandview High School students stood outside their schools with signs, including one that said, "Protect children, not guns."

Students at Raytown and Lee's Summit high schools also had plans to participate in a walkout Wednesday.

Raytown South students were gathering on the football field Wednesday. Raytown High School students were also walking out.

Students at Oak Park High School in the North Kansas City School District gathered outside, holding hands in a giant circle around the school.

Other districts, such as Kansas City, Kan., Olathe, Shawnee Mission and Blue Valley school districts, are on spring break during the national walkout day.

This story was originally published March 14, 2018 at 10:17 AM with the headline "KC area students participating in national school walkout."