You can be punished for walking out of school

Thousands of student walkouts are set to take place across the country on Wednesday to protest gun violence, advocate for gun reform policies and honor the 17 lives lost in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida last month. EMPOWER, the youth branch of the Women's March is organizing the event and expected over 3,135 walkouts to occur.

In many instances, schools are allowing students to peacefully walkout and many teachers are participating themselves. Several school districts, however, have threatened severe disciplinary punishment for students who join the protest, leaving students and parents to worry — what are the potential consequences?

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Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where 17 people were killed in a deadly shooting last month, walk out of their classrooms to protest for stricter gun laws as part of #NationalWalkoutDay. http://abcn.ws/2FDexzh

3:17 PM - Mar 14, 2018
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The Needville Independent School District outside of Houston, Texas was one of the first school districts to announce that students who protest on the 14th will be punished.

"We will discipline no matter if it is one, 50, or 500 students involved," wrote Needville Superintendent Curtis Rhodes in a letter to students and parents, as reported by the Dallas News. "All will be suspended for three days and parent notes will not alleviate the discipline."

Disciplinary actions, such as the ones described by Rhodes, are theoretically allowed. But as you can imagine, it's complicated.

"Students do not lose their rights to free speech at the schoolhouse gate," says Vera Eidelman, a fellow at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), to Time.