An official statement was received this afternoon from Uvalde CISD regarding yesterday’s student walk-out event:

“On Wednesday, April 5th, Uvalde CISD had between 100-200 students walk off the Uvalde High School and Morales Junior High campuses with a current enrollment of 1,810 without permission. As a district, we will remain sensitive to gun safety issues and try to work with our students on an appropriate process for voicing their concerns over gun laws and safety.

Although each campus attempted to provide a safe and secure area for students to participate in the Student Walkout on campus, many chose to leave campus without checking out or getting permission from their parents or administration before leaving campus. We immediately engaged our Uvalde CISD Police to escort students participating in the Walkout to ensure their safety until they arrived downtown.

Interim Superintendent Gary Patterson has been asked if our students will face consequences for yesterday’s actions. We would rather focus on working with our students as partners and seeing what we can do to have student voices heard without facing some of the issues we saw yesterday. Mr. Patterson has been informed that these protests will be ongoing.

We will not enforce negative consequences on any of the students for yesterday’s actions. However, in the near future, if walkouts are called for, any student that does not follow administration, law enforcement, or teacher directions, and wants to leave campus without signing out or calling parents, will be held accountable for their choices. We cannot and will not allow hundreds of students to walk off campus each time any local or national group calls for action. That is not in the best interest of operational safety, security, or classroom instruction.

We ask parents to have conversations about good choices, following school rules, and trying to understand the difficult challenge these activities present in keeping track of and keeping all students safe under our care.”

Headline Picture Credit: Jennifer Gilliland

 

Report By Jennifer Gilliland- At approximately noon today several UCISD students participated in a walk out. The event was organized by a group of high school students determined to make changes regarding gun laws as well as more safety measures in our school. The students ‘walked from the high school, junior high, and Uvalde Elementary down Getty to the Plaza where they peacefully protested till 5 PM then walked to Robb. 

 Report by Michael Robinson: The Uvalde CISD School District sent out a statement to parents early Wednesday morning setting the rules and parameters for allowing students to participate in the larger National Student Walkout Protesting Gun Violence.  

  According to the statement, the district would allow for its students to demonstrate outside within the confines of the school grounds from Noon to 1 PM. At noon,however,  the students started walking off the Morales Jr. High and Uvalde High School campuses and eventually climbed over fences and through the Uvalde High School Tennis court area to take their signs and actually walk beyond school grounds. About 75 to 100 students marched from the campuses towards the Uvalde Downtown area where they assembled on the Uvalde Downtown Plaza at 1 PM. 

  School District Police Chief Josh Gutierrez and another Uvalde CID Resource officer followed the students. According to Diana Olvedo-Karau who spoke with Gutierrez. She was told by Gutierrez that he followed the students to ensure their safety off campus.