(KLTV) - A Virginia middle school teacher's message to her students has quickly gone viral.
Jodie Katsetos, a sixth-grade teacher at Arcadia Middle School in Oak Hall wrote a message on a poster board in her classroom for her students to read this morning when they arrived at school. It read, “Walk Up Not Out.”
Along with the message were things her students could do instead of getting up and walking out of school on Wednesday.
- Walk up to the kid who sits alone and ask him to join your group.
- Walk up to the kid who never has a voluntary partner and offer to be hers.
- Walk up to your teacher and thank them!
- Walk up to someone and just be nice.
Katsetos posted the photo of the poster to her personal Facebook page on Tuesday. The post has received 17,000 reactions and nearly 600,000 shares. Not everyone is reacting positively to her message.
On Wednesday, students walked out of schools across the entire country to protest gun violence and call for change. The protest was to honor the 17 people gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last month.
Many people across the nation took to Twitter to show their support using the hashtag #walkout.
I’m the Columbine generation. I can’t help but think what would have happened if we all just walked out then. What if instead of active shooter drills we said ‘no school until gun reform?’ How many lives would have been saved? I’m sorry we didn’t walkout. #walkout
— Megan Ellyia Green (@MeganEllyia) March 14, 2018
So proud of @reillydennedy for leading a walk out to protest government failure to limit access to assault rifles. Too many children murdered. Time is NOW. Powerful images of student activism from National School Walkout Day https://t.co/38clzXnUqX
— M Dennedy (@mdennedy) March 14, 2018
Nickelodeon supports national walkout day by going off the air for 17 minutes. Great to see big names and companies take a stand in the gun violence debate. #mcj2033/14 https://t.co/q1f16MyRgZ
— Jack McCallum (@mccallumj97) March 14, 2018
Today was an incredible day of action in DC as students from gathered on Capital Hill to hear from elected officials and protest for gun reform. It so important that we keep the momentum up for the #MarchForOurLives and the #NationalSchoolWalkout on April 20th. #NeverAgain https://t.co/tXgSXsl972
— National School Walkout DC (@schoolwalkoutDC) March 14, 2018
The NRA, however, had a different message.
I'll control my own guns, thank you. #2A #NRA pic.twitter.com/jqbZzwcWf6
— NRA (@NRA) March 14, 2018
Others believed that the #walkout was just political agenda and unnecessary.
Let us be real...To these ignorant children, these walkouts are just social events that get them out of school.These are not profound political statements by deep-thinking young people.The kids are being used as pawns.#NationalWalkoutDay #walkout #WednesdayWisdom
— Mark Pantano (@TheMarkPantano) March 14, 2018
Why doesn't the media ever handle the death rate caused by bullying, like it does the death rate of guns? Why aren't we seeing walkouts to end the school violence that occurs on a daily basis and, regularly, harms our youth? Guns aren't the problem, people are #Walkout
— Loru (@LoruYaz) March 14, 2018
The FBI failedBrower PD failedSheriff Israel FailedThe deputies at the school failedNot:TrumpCongress NRA@DLoeschYour protest needs better aim#NationalWalkoutDay#Walkout#FreeCrowder #ParklandStrong
— CA-Conservative (@artyvanguard) March 14, 2018
The walkout was organized by EMPOWER, the youth branch of the Women’s March. More than 3,100 walkouts were registered across the country.
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