Local students organized to demonstrate for gun reforms

High school and middle school students in the Coachella Valley were expected to take part in demonstrations Wednesday on and off campus, to honor the 17 students and staff killed in the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

Demonstrations were expected to begin at 10 a.m. and signify the number 17 in one form or another, representing every person killed in the shooting. Students from the Palm Springs Unified, Desert Sands Unified and Coachella Valley Unified school districts were scheduled to take part. District officials said they were not supporting any walkouts during school hours.

Palm Springs Unified School District spokeswoman Joan Boiko said the district’s four high schools were expected to hold on-campus tributes organized by the campuses’ respective student governments.

The Coachella Valley Unified School District was also expecting demonstrations at its high and middle schools, with an emphasis on protesting gun violence. Demonstrations were to include a remembrance walk around a campus football field, 17 white flowers planted to represent the victims and speeches from students and administrators.

A district statement read “our high schools and middle schools will be holding a positive protest against gun violence. All high schools and middle schools have collaborated with their student leadership and teachers to plan a peaceful and respectful protest making sure it would not disrupt a `safe and orderly educational environment.”

In the Desert Sands Unified School District, students were planning to walk out of class, but not off campus, according to DSUSD spokeswoman Mary Perry.

“Although neither the district nor individual schools have condoned the idea of a walkout of instructional time, we are being supportive of our students’ right to be heard and are facilitating their efforts to hold these events at the schools,” Perry said.

At Shadow Hills High School in Indio, students were planning on walking to the outdoor basketball courts in silence, then delivering speeches.

Students at La Quinta’s Summit High School and Horizon School planned to assemble on the soccer field and read the names of the victims, followed by the release of 17 balloons.

La Quinta High School students planned to take to their feet with a lap around the track, then follow it up with 17 minutes of silence and the release of one white balloon per minute. The event was set to continue at lunch with a letter-writing campaign to elected officials.

Palm Desert High School students were set to place 17 empty desks in the center of the quad, which would remain there throughout the day. The names of the victims were set to be read by the president of the school’s student government, with a minute of silence between each name.

At noon, Indio High School students planned to hold 17 seconds of silence in the quad and release 17 balloons in commemoration of the victims. Students, who were urged to wear white Wednesday, were expected to speak at the rally.

The event is the brainchild of EMPOWER, the woman’s march youth branch– a collection of left-leaning activist groups initially reacting to the presidential election of 2016. Women leaders organized around Unity Principles of social and environmental justice, and have organized numerous march events nationwide.

Former Stoneman student Nikolas Jacob Cruz, 19, has been charged with perpetrating the mass killing. Florida prosecutors announced Tuesday that they will seek the death penalty against him.