At 10:00 am, March 14, hundreds of students at IHS, Newfield High School, and high schools across the nation walked out of their school buildings to advocate for stronger gun control restrictions and to protest the surge of instances of gun violence in schools across the nation. The administrations of these two local schools had different reactions to their students’ activism.
IHS students gathered in silence for seventeen minutes to honor the seventeen victims of the Parkland shooting, joined by approximately fifty adult supporters from the Ithaca community and students from Boynton Middle School.
The IHS administration released a statement to the families and students that they could not sanction the walkout. The statement read, in part, “Walkouts and demonstrations create situations that disrupt the ability of the school to maintain its normal operations and create difficult situations related to safety and security . . . while students have the right to peacefully protest, demonstrations cannot be sanctioned by the district.” Despite this message, IHS administrators did not prevent or punish students from protesting, and went as far as to thank students for their orderly conduct at the end of the school day.
Newfield High School also held a walkout, during which there were speeches by the student organizers. According to Newfield student organizer Lena Kennell, the movement received significant opposition from the school administration. In a speech at the Ithaca March for Our Lives on March 24, 2018, Kennell said, “You guys keep on talking about how we are ten square miles surrounded by reality. We are the reality. I had to argue with my principal multiple times over whether I was allowed to mention the NRA. He told me I would get suspended if I were to name the organization that is lining the pockets of our politicians and silencing them . . . Mr. Ryan, I’m calling you out.” Kennell did not name the NRA in her speech at the subsequent Newfield walkout and was not suspended.
Kennell stated the reason Newfield students chose to protest: “Mass school shootings have been so normal that when only one child is killed, there is barely media coverage. We don’t hear about the number of students who have been brutally murdered. And the number of deaths to fit our definition of astonishing is just increasing.” According to The New York Times, the US is home to 31 percent of global mass shooters, even though the US comprises under 5 percent of the global population.
At IHS, students have experienced increased dialogue surrounding guns and what to do in a school shooting; there has been one lockdown drill and one shelter-in-place drill over the past month, and teachers have explained safety protocols in case a shooter situation occurs. It is the official policy of IHS that teachers protect students in case of an active shooter.
The IHS walkout reflected the national student agenda advocating preventative measures against gun accessibility without thorough background checks, and argued that the US, government enables mass shootings because of politicians who reject gun control reforms and receive money from the NRA.
IHS student Ijey Onah ’18 said, “This walkout is important because as a nation we need to stand together to ensure that we have more gun control to stop more incidents like what happened at Parkland, what happened at Sandy Hook, what’s been happening for years. No legislation has been pushed through to guarantee that this won’t happen again, so this walkout is meant to represent that we are in solidarity against the NRA and for gun control.”
The Parkland survivors have directed the national conversation toward restraining the NRA and limiting influence of gun lobbyists over politics. According to The Washington Post, Ithaca’s congressional representative, Tom Reed has received $11,950 from the NRA during his tenure in congress. Other New York State politicians have also received NRA contributions—Rep. Lee Zeldin received $14,850, and Rep. John Katko received $11,900.
Chloe Moore ’20, a student protesting at IHS, said: “My right to live through the school day outweighs the right to own assault rifles. The NRA has blood on its hands, and it’s time to protest. That’s why the students that are protesting today are so important. Real change is happening because of us.”