Walkouts take somber tone

On Board Online • April 2, 2018

Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

Walkouts that drew thousands of New York students from their classrooms on March 14 unfolded largely as solemn observances honoring the memory of 14 students and three adults who were shot and killed in Parkland, Fla.

Schenectady, Baldwin and Carthage were among many school districts where students participated in somber rallies as classmates, teachers and administrators observed silently.

Where penalties were imposed, they were reported to be modest, such as a warning for an unexcused absence or a brief period of detention, and students and parents often were notified in advance of what to expect.

Bad weather thwarted some plans for March 14. In the North Country, Malone students had been poised to walk to the gym for a moment of silence, followed by instrumental and choral performances of an elegy composed after the 1999 Columbine shootings and a requiem.

Snow days forced cancellation of that plan. But students wore silver and maroon ribbons, the colors of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High, on the day they returned to school. They also signed a banner expressing sympathy in solidarity with Parkland students, said Malone Superintendent Jerry Griffin.

At Schenectady High School, students also remembered local gun victims with emotional tributes and impassioned calls for action.

"We want to stand in solidarity with the victims of Parkland and those in our own community whose lives were lost," said student Trevor Luciani, a senior, opening the observance attended by hundreds of students who filled a high school parking lot.

Events in some districts encouraged voter registration, and some included overtly political statements from students demanding gun control. At Ward Melville High School in the Three Village Central School District in Suffolk County, dozens of students went outside to chant, "Hey, hey, whaddya say? Not today, NRA."

A few wildcat-style walkouts surprised administrators in districts including Kingston, where about 100 high school students unexpectedly walked out of the building following a sanctioned indoor event.

School officials announced that students who participated in the outdoor protest would not face disciplinary action, but Superintendent Paul Padalino cautioned: "It is also extremely important to recognize that walkouts diminish our ability to keep students safe."