NEEDVILLE (WBAP/KLIF News) – A south Texas school district has threatened its students with a 3-day suspension for anyone who participates in organized walkouts or protests in the wake of a school massacre in Parkland, Florida that claimed 17 lives.
The superintendent of the Needville Independent School District, about 40 miles southwest of Houston, Curtis Rhodes posted the message on Facebook this week.
The message warned students that “Needville ISD will not allow a student demonstration during school hours for any type of protest or awareness!! Should students choose to do so, they will be suspended from school for 3 days and face all the consequences that go along with a school suspension.”
It continued, “Life is about choices and adding that every choice has a consequence whether positive or negative.”
The reaction to Rhodes’ message was swift.
One Facebook user commented “Don’t let your superintendent tell you that you can not exercise your first amendment rights.” Another wrote “Dreadful ISD. This ‘ville Needs more empathy for its students. #pathetic.”
The district’s Facebook page has been removed following the backlash against the message.
The threat came on the same day that a Needville Junior High School student was arrested for allegedly making a terroristic threat on Snapchat.
The post featured an image of a shotgun.
Since the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th, students have mobilized efforts to stage protests nationwide to call on lawmakers to make changes to gun control legislation.
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