Following widespread high school walkouts in support of gun reform, some students across the Chicago area are planning to walk out of class Friday, April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shooting.
But this time, their message is getting a little lost in the weeds: April 20 also is known as National Get High Day.
"April 20 is traditionally an extra security day to begin with," said Kim Brehm, spokesman for Lockport Township High School District 205. "We'll just have extra eyes, have faculty remind them of the date, and keep their eyes open."
Parents of both Lockport High School campuses received a letter this week that explained that April 20 annually raised "elevated concern that requires increased supervision and oversight in all schools," and noted that school staff was working with students still passionate about gun reform to choose alternative ways to communicate their position. Those who walk out would face disciplinary consequences, it said.
At Oak Park River Forest High School, principal Nathaniel Rouse sent parents of the school's 3,400 students an email encouraging them to "reclaim this day by talking openly with your teens about the harmful risks of youth marijuana use." The message included several links to pages with tips for conversations with teens about marijuana.
And in Arlington Heights, John Hersey High School principal Gordy Sisson said he and other administrators were prepared to dole out truancy consequences to any student absent from class for more than 20 minutes on Friday.
"I'm a child from the 60s; I've been there," Sisson said. "From an administrative viewpoint, (a walkout) needs to be a short disruption to function of the school and it needs to be for a legitimate reason that has some merit to it _ and that does not include smoking marijuana."
The added level of concern comes as students continue a youth-led movement to promote gun reform in the wake of the massacre that left 17 dead in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. Tens of thousands of students in Chicago and the suburbs joined the nationwide #NeverAgain movement by walking out of class on Feb. 21 and March 14, and joining a March For Our Lives rally held in Chicago's Union Park on March 24.
For the April 20 walkouts, which were planned to coincide with the anniversary of the school shooting in Columbine, Colo. on April 20, 1999, students from Naperville to Chicago have planned to leave class at 10 a.m. for a full day of civic activity. Some students have worked with local politicians to hold listening sessions. Others are hosting "get out the vote" drives, helping students to register online to vote if they are of age.
Ben Russell, a senior at Naperville Central High School, said from very soon after the Parkland shooting, he and other student organizers intended their April 20 walkout to be a notable event. When schools around the area began announcing plans for the earlier walkout, Russell and his peers followed suit, but handed out stickers and notices to remind students that a bigger event would happen at their school on 4/20, he said.
Despite some snarky marijuana-related comments on Twitter, where Russell and other students promoted their walkout, he still is expecting a large turnout Friday. He and other organizers have made signs, planned voter registration tables and have student speeches ready, he said.
"It's annoying," Russell said of the "Weed Day" association. "But we expected it and we'll just keep pushing on. It's all we can do."
