All over the country, students were watching the clock on March 14. As part of a national movement, at 10:00 am on Wednesday morning students got out of their seats, left their classrooms, and exited the school in what is likely this country’s largest ever mass-organized student-led walkout. The students’ message: Congress must do more than send “thoughts and prayers” in response to gun violence at schools and neighborhoods.
The March 14 observance, as many at ORR are now referring to it, took place exactly one month after a former student took an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle and killed 17 students and injured 17 more at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
At ORR, however, the walkout was postponed due to the storm, and will now take place one week later on March 21 – same time, same place, same message.
Women’s March Youth EMPOWER created the event, calling on students, educators, and parents to take part in a walkout at 10:00 am local time for 17 minutes, symbolizing one minute for each of the Parkland victims.
“Students and staff have the right to teach and learn in an environment free from the worry of being gunned down in their classrooms or on the way home from school,” reads the organization’s statement. “Parents have the right to send their kids to school in the mornings and see them home alive at the end of the day.”
At Old Rochester Regional, Tri-Town junior high and high school students will participate in the walkout under the supervision of school staff, and those wishing to not participate may remain inside the auditorium with school staff ensuring the safety of all students.
Principal Mike Devoll announced on March 13 that students would not be disciplined for participating in the demonstration, and safety is a top priority.
“The tragedy at Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida … and other losses of life on school campuses across the nation over several years have driven increased interest in student-led civic engagement efforts and actions, including the idea of school walkouts,” Devoll said in a notice to students and parents. “[ORR] supports students’ Constitutional rights to peaceful assembly and free expression.”
Devoll has thrice met with student leaders since the shooting, and students had expressed a need to participate in the walkout to honor those 17 who lost their lives.
“Our top priority at ORRHS is to support the academic and social/emotional needs of our students while maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment for all,” said Devoll. “We respect and support the right of our students to advocate for causes that are important to them and welcome the opportunity to work with any student or student group to discuss appropriate and creative ways to do so while at school.
Student Madeline Scheub was one of those students, along with Ellie Wiggin, Jenna Aruri, and Elle Gendreu, who organized ORR’s walkout, conveniently occurring during the school’s ‘Bulldog Block,’ when students are not in classes.
“We think it is important to not only memorialize the seventeen people that lost their lives, but also to take a united stand with students in schools across the country to protest to make sure both students and faculty feel safe in their schools,” Scheub. “This movement is important because it’s probably one of the biggest student organized walkouts in history and older people have always dominated voting turnouts in the past, so the younger Americans are showing their passion to fight for a change and influence in coming election years.”
Furthermore, says Scheub, every student wants to feel safe in school, and although the opinion on how to make that happen varies ranging from adjusting gun access laws to arming teachers, most Americans agree a change is needed.
“We as students feel the need to make a change and the opportunity is now,” said Scheub. “After the walkout, we will continue to fight for our cause and support victims and families of the Parkland shooting by writing letters to Congress, creating care packages and letters for families and students, and have discussions in student groups on what can be done to promote change.”
Devoll assured parents that local police would be at the school during the walkout to further ensure security and safety.
One Rochester resident, Christopher Gerrior, who is also on the Rochester Conservation Commission, emailed the school administration on March 8 and shared it with The Wanderer.
Gerrior asserted that the walkout would be “clearly and blatantly illegal and [sic] well as inappropriate.”
“Teachers are public employees and the very clear and stated reason for this walkout is to pressure Congress to enact more gun laws,” wrote Gerrior. “Labeling it a pause for safety does not change what it is. Supporting such a cause is political activity. Teachers are being paid to teach during this time, nothing else.”
Gerrior asked that the administration refrain from supporting the student-led walkout and to discipline any students who participate in the walkout.
In his email response to Gerrior, Superintendent Doug White wrote:
“As a school district, we have decided to provide a choice to students to decide whether or not to exercise their First Amendment Rights to participate in the walkout. The administrators of our secondary schools have been working on events that memorialize the victims that lost their lives on February 14, 2018, in Parkland, Florida. By guiding our students through this much-publicized event, we feel that we will create a learning environment that is safe for those wishing to participate as well as for those who do not. If any student creates a material disruption, the school will decide in accordance with the Student Handbook whether any consequences are warranted.”
White said although he respects Gerrior’s claim the district is violating the State Ethics Advisory 11-1, as Gerrior stated in his email, the staff would not be engaging in the activity, rather only supervising it to ensure safety.
“The events being coordinated by the district are not political in nature and the role of staff is to supervise the event to ensure the safe participation of all involved,” said White. “After careful consideration, the school district feels that working with all stakeholders to create a learning opportunity as well as a safe and secure environment for students can memorialize the loss of life … in Parkland, Florida is the appropriate and right thing to do.”
Scheub said that although the admin is not allowed to support the students’ cause, she was glad there would be no disciplinary response. “I do not think parents and community members should be concerned because every student at the school has the right to express their beliefs with freedom of speech,” Scheub said.
“We at ORRHS feel like this activity on Wednesday promotes student expression, minimizes disruption as it occurs during the Bulldog Block, and ensures safety,” said Devoll.
The League of Women Voters was asked to assist the school on Wednesday with voter registration for eligible students, including the early preregistration for students 16 years of age.
“We believe that this could be an empowering civics lesson to our students,” said Devoll, “and therefore we’ll be providing students with voter informational materials and assisting them to register on the Massachusetts online application during Wednesday’s Bulldog Block.”
This story will be updated on Thursday, March 22, on The Wanderer website following the walkout.
By Jean Perry