New student protests coming April 20

On Board Online • April 2, 2018

By Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

Grief, outrage and a determined sense of solidarity with the students of Parkland, Fla. have fueled a wave of activism by New York students.

Protests began on Wednesday, March 14, when students in about 200 local schools around New York held 17-minute vigils, walkouts and other events to mourn the loss of students and staff when a gunman attacked Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14.

A nationwide March for our Lives followed on Saturday, March 24. Some New York students were among hundreds of thousands of demonstrators at the main march in Washington, D.C. Protest locations closer to home included White Plains, Binghamton, Albany, Ithaca, Syracuse, Potsdam, Huntington and Middletown.

"I never experienced anything like that before, to see that so many people feel so passionately about something," said Victoria Andrunik, a Patchogue-Medford senior who joined hundreds of other Long Island students at a rally in Huntington.

"No one should have to come to school with fear that they are risking their lives," Andrunik said in a telephone interview with On Board. "I come to school for an education, not to risk my life."

Hearing from the sister of a Parkland victim at the rally and speaking with a family friend who attends the school brought the reality of the issue home, Andrunik said. "It was truly real and very scary and heartbreaking."

While the marches were led by students, they drew protesters of all ages. In New York City, where officials estimated about 175,000 turned out, many pushed children in strollers and others declared their status as concerned grandparents. "Nana Says No Assault Rifles!" one woman proclaimed with a handwritten sign.

The trio of national student-led events is set to conclude with another walkout on Friday, April 20. About 108 events are registered in New York, according to a map on the #NationalSchoolWalkout website.

How those protests will unfold has yet to take shape.

At Patchogue-Medford, Andrunik said students are working with administrators to plan an event that will not disrupt the school day.

At one Mohawk Valley high school, a spokesman told On Board a single student had registered an April 20 walkout ,but he told administrators he did not know what activities he wanted to organize. In Yonkers, a district spokeswoman said no administrators were aware of plans at any of the four city schools listed on the organizing website.

In many districts, April 20 has been set aside for staff development or school vacation, removing the possibility of disrupting the school day.

But, depending on what students decide to do, absence from multiple classes remains a possibility in some districts. That could trigger disciplinary penalties for students who participate.

The decision on discipline can be a tough one, said Jay Worona, NYSSBA's deputy executive director and general counsel.

"On one hand, many school leaders are fully supportive of students understanding how democracy works and exercising their constitutional right to demand action by the government, particularly on an issue that affects them directly," he said. "On the other hand, the law expects school districts to be consistent in how they treat unauthorized absences. Districts should handle the absences in a way that does not invite a legal challenge the next time a student is punished for being absent without a valid excuse."

He added, "at this point in our nation's history it is important that districts acknowledge the value of having our students become active as citizens, taking positions on important social and political issues of the day - regardless of what their particular viewpoint might be."

National organizers of the March 24 march emphasized three demands of lawmakers:

• Pass a law to ban the assault weapons frequently used to carry out mass shootings.
• Stop the sale of high-capacity magazines, restricting the amount of ammunition.
• Close loopholes in America's background checks and implement laws that require background checks on every gun purchase, including those that occur online or at gun shows.

Many students who participated in the March 24 protests emphasized that they feel personally threatened by repeated shooting incidents. They pledged to continue channeling their outrage into political activism.

"In our lifetimes, there has been so much of this devastating tragedy surrounding us. I was 10 when Sandy Hook (elementary school shootings) happened," a Northport student told a Newsday reporter aboard a bus to Washington. "Now that I'm older, and I can vote in this election, I'm ready to really start taking a stand for something I believe in."

"We demand a bright future, not a future filled with fear, anxiety and senseless gun violence," said White Plains student Kelly Marx as she spoke at a Westchester County rally, according to The Journal News. "We demand change, and we will not stop until our demands are met."