We are proud of the Valley students who are standing with their peers nationwide by speaking out on gun control.
We hope that local school administrators do not punish students who choose to raise awareness about curbing gun violence by participating in the National School Walkout on March 14. That 17-minute event is planned for 10 a.m. to honor the 17 students and staff killed in the Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Surviving students stirred the nation with their call to action following that mass shooting: meaningful gun control legislation must be enacted to stem the carnage. Their voices are echoed across the country, including here in the Valley.
A letter signed by 19 Amherst Regional Middle School students urging politicians to take action was read into the congressional record by U.S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, on Feb. 27 as he demanded that his Republican colleagues listen to their voices.
“Seventeen innocent people lost their lives. That scares us,” read the letter from Amherst schoolchildren. “It scares us that kids have to go to school wondering if they are next. That we even have to think that the next time we see some of our classmates or teachers may be in their open caskets. And what scares us most of all is that our government fails to do anything to change this.”
Eighth-grader Emily Grybko started the letter and used an Instagram group chat to get friends and other students to add suggestions. “I thought it was important to raise awareness to politicians that students know what is going on,” she said. “We are frustrated and frightened by the lack of action.”
Students from other area schools last week expressed similar sentiments to Gazette reporter Dusty Christensen. “I feel like it hasn’t been talked about enough,” said 16-year-old Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School student Elpidio Adorno, whose cousin was shot to death by an ex-boyfriend in Springfield in 2013. “I feel like too many people have these guns.”
Eli Kramer, a Northampton High School student, said he is optimistic that the student activism will lead to federal gun control measures, such as a ban on assault rifles. “We could be on the brink of a big shift.”
There was evidence of that Feb. 27 when about 100 people filled a computer lab at the Holyoke Public Library to learn more about demands for “common-sense gun legislation” made by Everytown for Gun Safety and the western Massachusetts chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Safety.
“I don’t know if there’s something different about this or new about this. But it’s exciting to see youth empowered and supported and lifted up in this way, because I think as a culture we devalue youth,” said Anne Thalheimer, a fellow with Everytown for Gun Safety and a survivor of the 1992 shooting at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington that killed a student and a professor.
Besides participating in the March 14 walkout, some area students plan to take part in the March For Our Lives anti-gun violence demonstrations in Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, including Northampton, on March 24. Organizers of the march in the nation’s capital expect up to 500,000 people.
School administrators across the country have taken varying stances about the walkout planned during classes March 14, with at least one Texas superintendent threatening participating students with three-day suspensions.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, schools have a right to punish students for missing classes, as long as the punishment for protesting is not harsher than that for any other unexcused absence.
Kristen Smidy, principal at Hampshire Regional Middle and High School in Westhampton, said last week she had talked with about 10 other local administrators whose approaches vary widely. “It is such a politically charged conversation, even though it’s about safety,” she said, adding that “we want to just make sure we have measures in place so (students) can participate in a safe and respectful way.”
“I appreciate the discourse, and I think that a lot of people are uncomfortable with the conversation,” Smidy continued. “With discomfort comes change. Just talking about safety more openly will benefit our community, regardless of how we decide to resolve the issue.”
We agree, and we urge other school officials to recognize the importance of that conversation. It’s a life or death issue.