Students, faculty at West High stage walk-out protest after violent threats in Utah schools

SALT LAKE CITY — After a turbulent few weeks in some Utah high schools, with violence threatened and acted upon in one case, students and faculty at West High School walked out of classes Friday morning in protest.

Two protests were planned Friday at the school — the first during the start of classes, and the second just before classes were dismissed. At approximately 8:15 a.m., a crowd stood at the front of the school with a giant orange sign that read: “We protect us … because no one else will.”

Those who gathered were responding to a shooting that occurred at the school in November. A 15-year-old boy was shot in the parking lot on school grounds, after he and a group of teenagers appeared to have been in conflict, police said.

Teacher Danelle Hathaway said she and other teachers spoke to the district.

“We talked about our concerns, we posed some possible solutions,” Hathaway said. “We basically asked them for help and engagement. And the feedback that we got from them felt more like they put it back upon us. We weren’t sure if they… we felt like they didn’t really hear us.”

Another teacher, Valerie Gates, hopes there will be more patrols and security at West High because the campus is so large.

“We’re really hoping, first of all, to get more people in here to help us patrol the campus and make sure our students are safe,” Gates said.

The protest also followed a threat at East High School on Thursday, when a caller reported an active shooter on campus to police, only for officers to arrive and find no threat.

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This is a developing story. It may be updated.