Officials at a Pennsylvania high school say they will issue detentions to more than 200 students who walked out of school as part of a nationwide protest against gun violence.
The Allentown Morning Call reports Pennridge Superintendent Jacqueline Rattigan announced the punishment Wednesday against nearly 225 Pennridge High School students who walked out of school instead of attending an in-house assembly remembering the 17 killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida. The students will serve their detentions Saturday.
[PHI Photos] From Pa. to NJ to Del., Students Walk Out to Protest Gun Violence
The school had previously warned students who left the school without their parents would face discipline. The student handbook, which is signed by parents at the beginning of each school year "clearly spells out the consequences of leaving school without permission," Pennridge told NBC10.
Rattigan says about 800 students attended the assembly, which included a slideshow in honor of the victims. In a letter she sent to parents, obtained by NBC10, Rattigan said she "was proud of the way our students conducted themselves at all levels."
She said a few of the 225 students who left the school did so with their parents but the rest did so in violation of school rules and school safety procedures.
"Just to be clear, no student will be disciplined because they expressed any particular viewpoint or opinion," Rattigan wrote. "Rather, the disciplinary consequence will be given for willfully breaking a school rule about leaving the building without permission."
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Rattigan noted that local police officers were inside and outside the school "to protect the safety of all students and staff" during Wednesday's actions.
