Dear Parents,Ā
Over the past week, we have received several emails from parents in regard to school safety.Ā Your thoughts and concerns on this most important topic have been insightful and appreciatedā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦.
I also had the opportunity to communicate with the other superintendents across the state regarding the possibility that students at the secondary level may participate in a walkout on March 14, 2018. We are all aware that our students have great concerns over this recent tragedy and are looking for ways to make a difference.
I absolutely support our students having a voice and taking a stand on this very important issue. Perhaps student solidarity can make a difference since nothing else has seemed to work.Ā Paramount however, is the safety of our students while they are in our care.Ā Ā As we better understand the wishes of our students in regard to the March 14th walkout, the district will notify both students and parents of an appropriate plan for student expression and our expectations concerning student behavior.
Your children have sparked intelligent discussions on this topic, and, as always, we are very proud of them.
We received this letter from the superintendent of our school district after the massacre of 17 adults and children one month ago at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
The National School Walkout took place today at 10 AM, in each time zone, to demonstrate against current US gun laws.
The changes the students would like to see (found at #ENOUGH):
THE PRIORITY POLICIES WEĀ SUPPORT
- Banning Assault Weapons & High Capacity Magazines / S. 2095
- Expanding Background Checks to All Gun Sales / S 2009
- Passing Gun Violence Restraining Order Law / H.R. 2598 / Ā S. 1212
- Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act / S.1856 / H.R. 1556
THE PRIORITY POLICIES WEĀ OPPOSE
- Conceal Carry Reciprocity HR 38 / S 446
- Any legislation that would aim to fortify our schools with more guns.
Yesterday, another advocacy group left a different message for congress.
To demonstrate the enormous heartbreak of gun violence 7000 pairs of shoes were left on the US Capitol lawn.Ā Since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, where 20, 6-7-year olds were killed, there have been 7000 children killed in the United States due to gun violence.
The images of the shoes and seeing and entire nation of children standing in solidarity against gun violence is hopefully a new message that adults have not been able to convey to obtain change.
It is my hope that these children can continue to use their voices, to create the noise necessary, to elicit the change needed.
Today, during the National School Walkout children sat for 17 minutes in silence to remember the 17 who were killed one month ago today.
And even though I did not think the walkout would travel to my oldest sonās school, dedicated to the 6th grade only, it did.Ā Bobby was encouraged to walk out by a friend, and he did.Ā He returned to his classroom however, as he told me he did not know what was happening or why people were sitting there.Ā When I told him, he wished I had told him before.
This is the letter that came home:
Dear Parents,
Although there had been no communication from students about a planned classroom walkout, we did meet about a plan with our staff in preparation.
Today, at 10 a.m., some students started to walk out of classes, and soon more followed. Designated staff stationed in hallways directed students who walked out to a staging area. The goal of the plan was to ensure student safety and it worked. Students walked to the staging area without incident.Ā No one walked out of the building, and students were supervised at all times.
At approximately 10:05 am, students sat down and got themselves quiet without being directed.
They sat in silence until 10:17.
We send this out as information, so you can discuss it with your child at home.
I am so very glad that these 6th graders, as well as the children across the nation stood in solidarity against current gun laws.Ā These are the voices of the future, that will hopefully be able to bring about future change.
It is wonderful that children are standing up for their rights.
I agree – so awesome!
We need to support these kids as much as we can. These are our future leaders.
Finally! Something to be proud of…these kidsšŖšš
I agree – these kids are the voice and should be proud! So awesome!
YES! I am so proud of these young people!!
Me too! š
It seems that the children are showing much more responsibility and maturity than the adults who want to arm teachers and allow military strength weaponry to be on sale to the general public. Well done kids!
I agree – fantastic display by the kids!
The shoes were a very powerful symbol. It was reported over here and I feel so proud of them standing up, peacefully and saying “no more” let’s hope they can make a change.
Yes, I am proud of them too – let’s hope!
In the Gettysburg Area School District, the approved walkout was *not* related to guns but in memory of the slain students. The administration made sure the kids knew that. I’m pleased that the momentum started by the MSD High School students is continuing and even spreading, Sadly, I doubt anything meaningful will ever come about because of this, and we’ll be starting over after the next mass-shooting. Cynically yours, Jeff
That’s interesting – I wonder how many other school districts did the same. I read on CNN that there were a lot of high school students that did not walk out. The students said they meant no disrespect to the students who lost thier lives, but they did not believe assault weapons should be banned, one student stating something along the lines of – if his house was being burglarized by multiple burglars he would need something to shoot them all at once.
I hope. But there is a cynical bug in me as well. I don’t know if anytning is going to change from this event, but this feels like the first push. Might take 10 (and that many
mass shootings) but if this generation continues to push, maybe they can create a change.
They walked out of schools here in Saint Paul and were protected by police officers as they marched to the state capital here. They were welcomed in by the congressional staff. Made some moving speeches to the congress men and women. Once they had their say, police protected them as they returned to school.
Wow! That sounds really awesome. That sounds like they really encouraged the students to speak and to allow their voices to be heard. That is great stuff!
I am incredibly happy to see that this one seemed to have made an impact on our youth and I can only hope that something finally gets done about this situation. It is abominable that Sandy Hook wasn’t enough. This particular incident hit me very hard because I went to high school not far from Douglass and my high school played them in football games. One of my closest friends still lives down there and her husband works at a nearby school and went in to lock down because of that. This one made me think, for the first time, about the fact that I, as a private music teacher, who teaches in schools, have an increasingly more dangerous job each and every day with how this world has shifted. I never though about that 20 years ago in college when I became a music major. Never once did I consider that I may be risking my life every day and now have an increased risk in putting myself between a child and a bullet. And that has become a very real reality now. It is very scary and very sad. I sincerely hope that this walk out had some impact and that this generation gets it done where we have all continued to fail. Thank you for this post!!!!! As a concerned teacher and mother of a 10 year old.
I agree! I can’t believe something didn’t change after Sandy Hook either. Instead they made it seem like an isolated incident and blamed mental illness. But it keeps happening! You are right – this wasn’t something we thought about 20 years ago. Although, come to think of it, I went to Penn State and was there the day the sniper opened fire on the Hub lawn. Maybe this thing happened a lot more than we thought, we just didn’t know because we didn’t have such quick access to media and news. I don’t know – you are right though – I didn’t think about it when I choosing my profession. I do too – I am hopeful that this generation brings the voice of reason and can help percipitate change. Because it is about time something changes! Thanks for reading and commenting!
I was in lockdown at the school I taught at the day the sniper was if Bowie because I was teaching in Severna Park, MD. That was my first taste of it. Still, it wasn’t dawning on me yet, because it wasnt within the school and done by a student. I was about 24 or so at that point, so I was put of college already. Mental illness definitely gets blamed all the time and while that is a component a lot of times, they also need to examine what led up to it and the fact that the child’s mental illness was left untreated and that the bullying many of them had to go through while they were in school had a blind eye turned to it. I definitely hope this generation sees to the changes that have yet to happen. I have seen some amazing videos from these children who speak with a lot of wisdom and I hope someone in positions of authority will take heed for once. If not, those children will take care of it once they become those positions of authority. Unfortunately too many other lives will have to be lost until they get there.
Yeah, it didn’t dawn on me either at PSU – I was 20 then and just feet from the event. And mental illness was blamed , and although that shooter was mentally ill, not all of the shooters are and the mentally ill have turned into a scapegoat. I talked about that in the piece I wrote before this one about not arming teachers. What I thought was the best about that post were the comments from other bloggers all over the world, pretty much appalled at the US for not changing gun laws after so many massacres. And it is sad that we have to continue to see more kids being killed before any change will be made. I agree – I am hopeful the change will come with this generation. Maybe not in their words or actions now but one day they will hopefully be in the position necessary to make the changes needed.
Someone on Facebook in Australia wrote put what Australia’s governing gun laws are and it is astoundingly different from ours and their statistics are far lower than ours. Foreigners are utterly appalled by our nation. You are absolutely correct. I don’t know when Washington and our state leaders will recognize what fools we look like to everyone and all at the expense of CHILDREN just to squabble over the 2nd amendment rights and how Un-American it would be to take away or limit that freedom in any way. Despicable.