HILLIARD — A Hilliard high school student says he tried to remain nonpolitical during school walkouts over gun violence and was suspended for a day because he stayed in a classroom instead of joining protests or the alternative, a study hall.
Hilliard Davidson High School senior Jacob Shoemaker says school isn’t the place for politics, and he wasn’t taking sides Wednesday.
The district said a post claiming Jacob was suspended for not participating in National Walkout Day is false.
Facts About Hilliard Gatherings https://t.co/j2NsPpjMgO
— Hilliard Schools (@HilliardSchools) March 16, 2018
A letter says the student would be suspended for Thursday for refusing to leave a classroom during the walkout.
Stacie Raterman, director of Communications, told WBNS 10-TV the information in the post is false.
The district says in a statement on its website that no student was coerced into participating in the district’s sanctioned events commemorating the shooting nor punished for not taking part but the district is responsible for students’ safety and they can’t be unsupervised.
Jacob’s citation for not following instructions was shared online by a friend, prompting a flood of messages to his father.
Scott Shoemaker says some people thought his son was suspended for walking out, and angry comments accumulated, including some that mistook Scott for the principal.
He says he also got a couple death threats and had to consider switching phone numbers.