Schools prepare for nationwide student walkout on Wednesday

MILAN, Tenn. — Wednesday marks one month since the Parkland, Fla., school shooting, which killed 17 people.

Students across the country are organizing walkouts in schools to protest for better gun laws.

“Leaving the campus is not an option because I can’t keep them safe when they walk out the front door, but within the confines of our campus I’m willing to work with them on,” Milan High School Principal Greg Scott said.

Students at Milan High School say they will walk out at 10 a.m. for exactly 17 minutes — one minute for each person killed in Florida.

“Instead of them walking out during academic times, we actually created a time for them,” Scott said.

Scott says he has met with student leaders several times to make sure things go smoothly.

He says he first heard about it from social media.

“I went to them and said instead of this being something where you are worried about our response, about you being defiant of our rules, let’s get a dialogue going,” Scott said.

Instead of leaving the building, the students will go to one of two areas.

“We have part of our bleachers pulled out and our cafeteria area. Even if it does grow to a couple of hundreds of students, we will have the room to accommodate them,” Scott said.

It’s not just schools in Milan participating. Students in Jackson-Madison County including at North Side High School and at Madison Academic High School are expected to take part as well.

He says seeing his students trying to make a difference and stand up for what they believe is always a good thing.

“You’re proud when you see students grow up,” Scott said. “We want kids to leave Milan not just with an academic future but one where they can think for themselves and provide for themselves.”

We reached out to Jackson-Madison County schools. They said they aren’t commenting about their plans to handle students.

We are also told students at Peabody High School are planning to walk out as well.