1,100 Chicago-area students get hour detentions for walkouts

DOWNERS GROVE, Ill. – About 1,100 students at two suburban Chicago high schools will serve hour-long detentions for participating in this week’s walkout to protest gun violence.

Students at Downers Grove North and South High Schools can serve their detentions before or after school on weekdays or on Saturdays. Community High School District 99 spokeswoman Jill Browning says the detentions were given after school officials met with students before Wednesday’s walkout and offered alternatives “that would not disturb the educational environment.”

Browning says students have said they consider the detentions “a ‘badge of honour’ and a symbol they truly are protesting and standing up for their rights at a personal cost.” The nationwide walkouts were planned after a gunman killed 17 students last month at a high school in Parkland, Florida.

Browning said 3,900 students remained in class during the walkout.