Leaving the building and looking ahead

Over 200 students walked out of their classes and went to the gym to rally together with students across the nation on March 14. However, 14 students walked out the doors and to the front marquee despite warnings of discipline from the administration.

“I was walking out with some of the other people planning to leave the school,” junior Maria Newton said. “When we got to the gym we realized that the administrators were blocking the doors off campus, so we went around the building and found a door that wasn’t blocked, then walked out to the marquee.”

These students then stood along Clayton road, holding signs and linking arms in solidarity in order to draw more attention to the event.

“I am ashamed of our school today because the administrators and the leaders of this glorified pep assembly manipulated students into believing they would have an impact when if we are not in the eye of the public and we are not causing a disruption change [won’t] come,” sophomore Gabe Davis said. “The better thing to do would’ve been to exit the school and stand in solidarity with those that have died at the hands of gun violence, in silence, on the side of the road, with signs. I believe that makes a stronger impact and gives out a more demanding message than the ‘march’ in the gym.”

After the 17 minutes of protest– in honor of the 17 students and faculty killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School–these students walked back inside, ready to face the other side of the administration’s threats of punishment.

“[Building Manager Scott] Bollmann came out to get us, and check that we were being safe. We had been warned when we were leaving that we would get detention if we left the building, but he just asked that we go back in through the gym doors and no one got detention,” Newton said. “More students definitely would have walked out if they had known we ultimately wouldn’t be getting in trouble.”

The administration warned parents and teachers via email in the days leading up to the walkout that if students left the building in protest, they would receive disciplinary action.

“I do feel that the school supported the cause. If we are willing to protest, I think it’s important to understand that it could cost us. The school didn’t punish any of us, even though they could have if they chose to,” junior Noah Wright said. “I do wish they would’ve let [everyone] go outside, but I understand that they have reasons, especially safety, for not allowing that.”

Safety was at the forefront of everyone’s minds. The main reason for staying in the gym, according to multiple administrators, was that the parking lot was potentially unsafe for students.

“The main concern for us was the parking lot. Anytime students leave the building it becomes more difficult to make sure they stay safe,” Assistant Principal Dr. Corey Sink. “It’s not that students don’t make good decisions when they leave, but that there are more uncontrollable situations that can arise.”

The students who walked out were willing to accept the potential repercussions for their actions because they wanted to stand in solidarity with the larger movement happening around the nation.

“The protest was about us, as students, needing a chance to heal and connect with others, across the nation, who are feeling lost and fearful during these turbulent times,” Stewart said. “We should have been allowed to join all the other Parkway schools, like West Middle and all the other high schools that were actually allowed to walk out.”

Others, however, just wanted to do it because the protest in the gym was not for them. They thought the administration was too involved, or that it didn’t capture the spirit of the event.

“I was one of the speakers in the gym, and it was very powerful, to be there protesting with all those people,” junior Tim McAuliffe said. “But I’m for sure walking out next time, and so are most of the people that were with me. The point of the protest wasn’t to stay inside—we want to be heard.”

Students who were dissatisfied with the organization and management of the March 14 walkout are now working with administration to plan events in the future that will better enable students’ voices to be heard.

“I sent an email to the principals and the superintendent because I felt that the administration had let down students who wanted to wanted to protest in this way. We were protesting about feeling unsafe in schools, and the administration acknowledging that it was unsafe to protest shows that it was absolutely necessary,” Stewart said. “This was supposed to be about making our voices heard, and I have never felt so silenced as I felt when I heard a teacher say ‘close that door.’”  

The next walkout will take place on April 20, on the anniversary of the Columbine High School shooting. Students that choose to participate will leave the school and some will carpool to the Attorney General Joshua Hawley’s office downtown, along with students from all over the St. Louis area.

“There are other protests, other walkouts, fast approaching,” Stewart said. “If students are willing to respond to the challenges of our ever-changing world, as the mission statement says, the Parkway Staff and Administration must be willing as well and allow students to make their voices heard—whether it be a walkout or other forms of peaceful protest.”