Students in the D.C. area participate in a walkout over gun violence in March of 2018.
Students at Virginia's largest school district will soon be able to take a day off every year to participate in protests.
Fairfax County Public Schools in Northern Virginia has adopted the policy for students in seventh through 12th grades, NBC4's news partners at WTOP report. Students will get an extra excused absence every year for "civic engagement activities."
Those activities can include marches, meeting with local leaders or other types of involvement in the community.
Parents and guardians will have to excuse their students up to two days before an excused event. The policy is set to go into effect Jan. 27, 2020.
Fairfax County Public Schools teaches over 185,000 students. The policy change comes more than a year after schools were directed to work with students who wanted to join a nationwide walkout over gun violence.
