NEW ORLEANS – Thousands of students across the country, including in the New Orleans area, are expected to walk out of school Wednesday to protest gun violence.
The national walkout event is expected to happen at schools across the country at 10 a.m., marking one month since the deadly school shooting in Parkland, Fla. The event calls for students and teachers to walk out for 17 minutes to honor the 17 lives lost in the school shooting.
"There's a little bit of anxiety of what would happen if it were to happen here," Belle Chasse High School junior Nicole Cascio said. "Is it really safe and are we going to be okay."
Cascio is one of the hundreds of students at the Plaquemines Parish school, expected to participate in Wednesday's 17-minute National School Walkout.
Students at more than 2,800 schools are planning on participating in the national walkout.
School administrators in some southeast Louisiana parishes said they will allow students to participate in the protests. School administrators in Plaquemines Parish are allowing students to participate in the walkout if they choose to. Plaquemines Parish students who do not want to participate in the National School Walkout will be allowed to stay inside and study in the library or a classroom.
In Jefferson Parish, the school board says teachers will use the protests as an opportunity as “a teachable moment” and will refrain from disciplinary action as long as students remain respectful during the walkout.
Other local schools are not supporting the protest citing safety concerns and disruption of the school day.
The Archdiocese of New Orleans says students will make a stand for peace Wednesday morning. More than 35,000 students in Elementary through High School will honor the memory of the 17 Parkland shooting victims by praying for 17 minutes straight. School officials have also been asked to speak with students about school safety.