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Lafayette High School students plan walk-out

"These are real things and real divisive matters and we just have to be careful in our approach."

A group of Lafayette High School students plans to walk out of school one week after a judge found former St. Louis Metropolitan Police Officer Jason Stockley not guilty of murder. One student says she expects around 30 of her peers to walk from the building to the football field at 2:16 p.m. Friday.

"People are hurting," Rockwood superintendent Dr. Eric Knost said. "People are feeling all kinds of different ways."

5 On Your Side asked Knost whether protesting is allowed within Rockwood schools.

"We're not here to tell kids that how you think is the wrong way to think," Knost said. "Students don't lose their rights at the schoolroom door. I mean, law taught us that a long time ago."

At the same time, he says, there are boundaries.

"We've got to make sure that school is not disrupted to the point where either kids aren't safe, or kids don't feel safe, or we can't hold school," Knost said.

He says students already experience conflict and some deal with hate speech.

"Have there been increases? I think that emotions are high and these are deep subjects so I don't doubt that kids have been in some pretty challenging conversations," Knost said.

Administrators, counselors, and social workers are ready to help students who ask for help, he says.

"I don't suggest that when kids walk away they feel all resolved like, 'Oh, you know, the administrator solved it for us,'" Knost said. "I don't think we have the ability to do that. These are real things and real divisive matters and we just have to be careful in our approach."

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