An Ohio high school student was suspended after he did not participate in Wednesday’s national walkout to protest gun violence.
Jacob Shoemaker, a senior at Hilliard Davidson High School, also did not join other students in a study hall for those not wanting to participate. His decision was not only based on avoiding the walkout but also on making a political statement either way, he told the Columbus Dispatch.
Shoemaker told his father “there shouldn’t be politics in the classroom,” the Dispatch reported, adding that he said sitting in his seat would be “the least intrusive of the choices I’ve been given.”
The suspension slip from the Hilliard City Schools read: “Student refused to follow instructions after being warned repeatedly by several administrators. Student not permitted on school property 24 hours.”
“He stayed in the classroom, where he was supposed to be in the first place. It’s kind of ironic,” Shoemaker's father, Scott Shoemaker, told the Dispatch.
The boy’s father received an outpouring of messages after the suspension citation was posted online.
School district spokeswoman Stacie Raterman told the Dispatch students were given the options of attending the protest or having a study hall, adding that “we can’t allow students to be unsupervised. The study hour was our way of making sure our students were safe and supervised.”
Thousands of students participated in the National Walkout Day across the country. It was organized following the attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people in February.
The young Shoemaker told the Dispatch he didn’t think his decision would cause so much attention or lead to a suspension, but he said he is willing to accept the consequences.
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