By Sue Porter, Dean of Students and the Education Leadership Team
In light of the recent events in Parkland, Florida, students and educators from around the country have been in dialogue on how to collectively advocate for both safer schools and student voice. Today, Wednesday, March 14, we had a special schedule in order to observe the 17-minute nationwide school walkout. Students gathered together, some in the rain out on the Green Space, and some inside the building staying dry, but all in silence and sharing reflections on poster boards to send a message that this unnecessary violence must end.
This moment felt both important and interconnected to the lives of students and school employees at Bay and at schools around this nation. We are fortunate to have student-leaders from a range of clubs that coordinated the walkout and the accompanying morning meeting to further respond to this moment.
The students organizing the event wrote the following email to the student body before the walkout, and we think their words best capture the purpose of the event:
“Student leaders of Uproar, SEID, Rise to Run, and Social Events have come together to organize our own walk-out in solidarity with our peers across the country. This walk-out not only represents our support of the victims of the Parkland shooting but also our voice in the matter that this will never happen again.
Regardless of political affiliation, this is a movement to advocate for safety in our schools. We, as students, should be able to come to school every day and not have to worry about our safety and likelihood of returning home that night.”
We encourage everyone to use this event as an opportunity to engage your child(ren), friends, family and community members in a conversation about safety, civic engagement, and your values about all of the above. #NeverAgain
#SchoolStories 