OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — Kansas’ third-largest school district is reviewing complaints that administrators infringed on students’ freedom of speech during a national classroom walkout to protest gun violence, including by taking away student photographers’ cameras.
The issues arose Friday at Shawnee Mission North High School and Hocker Grove Middle School. Students said they were censored, and Shawnee Mission North junior Grace Altenhofen told board members at a meeting Monday that an administrator told students photographers they weren’t allowed to cover the event because the administrator “didn’t approve of the subject matter.”
Shawnee Mission School District Interim Superintendent Kenny Southwick said he would “take personal responsibility for some of the things that happened.”
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas says it has received numerous complaints and is investigating.