Walkouts, rallies across Florida in protest of DeSantis’ education policies

MIAMI (FLV) – Florida high school and college students participated in “Walkout 2 Learn” rallies and walk outs on Friday in protest of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ education policies.

The flyer said high school and college students will walk out of class in protest of the “government censoring and erasing our history, culture and identities.”

Walkout 2 Learn is a student-led movement founded by 19-year-old Executive Director Zander Moricz.

The website advertises rallies in Miami, Jacksonville, Orlando and Sarasota on Friday night at 6 p.m.

“Governor DeSantis has taken action to ban DEI programs, African American history, gender studies majors, and books,” Moricz tweeted.

Moricz tweeted said students are walking out of their classes to learn a 10-minute piece of “banned history” from one of their peers, who will have been trained by a Harvard educator.

Videos posted on social media show students walking out of Eckerd College, among other universities and high schools.

In an interview with Teen Vogue, Moricz spoke out against recent bills working through the Florida legislature, such as the Parental Rights in Education Act expansion which prohibits school teachers from teaching sexual orientation or gender identity from grades PreK-8.

“We cannot stop these hateful bills from becoming law,” Moricz said to the outlet. “They are ignoring us. They are not dealing with our perspectives.”

State Board of Education member Ryan Petty criticized the event and said, “Marxists organizations like @walkout2learn want your kids to become activists at school. They don’t much care if they are educated.”

“This is the beginning of a movement,” Florida Democrats tweeted on Wednesday.

The website said students will have an opportunity to sign up for an African American History course.

“This course is certifiable, virtual, and created by game-changing Black history professors from the country’s top-ranked institutions,” the description said.