Bemidji schools chief cancels planned school violence protest

A call in Bemidji, Minn., to join a planned nationwide protest over school shootings did not survive a school superintendent’s review, the Bemidji Pioneer reports today.

English teacher Gina Marie Bernard had called for the march to coincide with events across the country next month.

That’s now been canceled and a Facebook page has been taken down.

“We certainly agree on the need to address gun violence and school safety,” Bemidji Area Schools Superintendent Jim Hess tells the paper. “However, this does not give anyone the right to disrupt the educational setting. We do not support any type of disruption to a student’s education.”

He said educators might talk to students about violence, or the kids can meet at the flagpole after school.

“You can be from the farthest right to the farthest left, you should be able to come outside for 17 minutes and just honor those lives and be able to take the stand that guns have no place in our schools,” Bernard, who says she’s a gun owner, had told the Pioneer earlier this week.