Today, Dec. 2, 2014, a student-led walkout occurred at KHS. About 70 students left their sixth hour classes at 12:50 p.m. and walked toward the commons area. Then, they walked past the library and out the Main Office doors toward the Lyons Memorial Stadium.

Once at the stadium, students began to assemble on the field with arms raised chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot.” Soon after, Laniya Frenchie, freshman, led this chant. While on the field, the students laid on the ground in silence for four-and-a-half minutes.

Some students went to support the idea of social change, while other students went to simply get out of class. Chris Nesbitt, senior, said he was frustrated with these students.

“A lot of us are down here because we feel like we as a community have been hurt before from things like this,” Nesbitt said. “Then you have people who are out here to get out of class. That’s extremely disrespectful. We’re here to respect Mike Brown and what happened to him, that young man lost his life. People are out here celebrating and having fun, and that’s not what this is all about.”

A few minutes later, the students linked arms and formed a circle on the field chanting, “Hands up, don’t shoot.” When the students left the field, they walked back toward the school chanting, “No justice, no peace.”

Dr. Michael Havener, principal, said students would not receive any punishment for leaving class and told teachers when the students would be arriving back in their classrooms. The walk-out lasted 30 minutes and the students returned to class halfway through sixth hour.