Schools Chancellor Implores City Students Not to Walk Out on Friday

In March, when students walked out of class to honor victims of the Parkland school shooting, city officials and school administrators stood alongside them. But Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza said the walkout planned for Friday, to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the Columbine school shooting, is different.

At a townhall with students at Brooklyn Tech on Monday, Carranza asked high schoolers not to leave class to take part in the planned afternoon demonstration in Washington Square Park.

"Columbine happened 19 years ago,” Carranza told student leaders from across the borough. “I get it. But you don't have to be out of school all day to make your voices known. You've already made your voices known. So I'm going to ask you: stay in school."

Asha Lawrence is a freshman at Brooklyn Tech who said she and many of her classmates would not heed the Chancellor's appeal.

Lawrence grew up in the the United Kingdom, and said after educating herself about the deadly school shooting at Columbine, she thinks students need to take a stand and have their voices heard.

"This is not a new issue,” she said, “and so it's really important for us to just stick with it."

Some school administrators have asked parents to provide written consent to allow their children to leave school and take part in the rally. Others, like Mather High School dean Brian Pew, said they don’t think many students will be participating.

Pew said he’s talked to students at his Midtown Manhattan school who participated in the March walkout and the “March for our Lives.” But, he said, he hasn't gotten any official word of a Friday walkout from students.