Anne Arundel Schools Chief Bars Friday Student Walkouts: Report

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Students in high schools in Maryland, the District and Virginia are planning to walk out of class Friday to protest gun violence, according to media reports. But in Anne Arundel County, the head of the public school system warned this week that students will face punishment if they participate in demonstrations.

In a letter sent to parents Tuesday, Superintendent George Arlotto said principals at the county's high schools have been told not to deviate from regular class schedules on Friday, the Capital Gazette reported.

He said he feels that students made their voices heard on the issue on March 14, when high schoolers in Anne Arundel and across the country walked out of class to protest the mass shooting a month earlier at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and to honor the 17 victims.

The student protests on Friday will mark the 19th anniversary of the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., a Denver suburb, according to the Capitol Gazette. Fifteen people died in the mass shooting, including 12 students, a teacher and the two shooters, a pair of students who committed suicide.

The organizers of Friday's protests said students from the Washington area plan to hold a vigil outside the White House and then march on Capitol Hill, radio station WTOP reported.

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