Charles City Middle School students take action, voices heard on gun violence

By James Grob, jgrob@charlescitypress.com

Some students took Charles City Middle School Principal Rick Gabel and the rest of the administration by surprise Tuesday morning when they organized and staged a brief walkout.

After some initial scrambling, the protest was peaceful, the students felt their voices were heard, and everyone involved learned something, school staff said.

According to Gabel, Josiah Cunnings, a sixth-grade student, came to Middle School Dean of Students Keith Reuter about 9 a.m. to inform the administration of his plans to protest  national gun violence with a student walkout.

“He wanted to have a protest, and he told us the reasons why,” said Gabel.

Gabel, Reuter and other administrators met with some teachers and discussed ways to respond. Gabel said they looked at models for how other schools have handled the same situation.

“You’re not going to force them to stay if they want to walk out,” said Gabel. “But we were within our realm to set parameters, and that’s what we did.”

The administration required any student who walked out to write a “reflection paper” regarding the walkout, to be turned in by Thursday. In the paper, the students would have to indicate the reasons and motives for their protest.

“We wanted to make sure there was some sort of understanding, that the students would make a connection as to what they were doing and why they were doing it,” Gabel said.

Gabel said Wednesday that about 45 students took part, walking around the outside of the building in protest. Gabel and Reuter walked with them, for the students’ safety and for supervision.

“Speaking out against gun violence is a nationwide trend,” said Gabel. “It’s become a national issue, and the students hear about it all the time, and they see videos, and some of them thought this was a way they could support that cause.”

The event was orderly and the students were well-behaved, according to Gabel. They carried signs which reflected the theme of the protest, “We want some action now.”

“That was their hope, that was their message, and the kids acted appropriately,” said Gabel. “They complied with the things we had discussed.”

The students had chosen the date of April 17 because of the number 17 — the number of students killed in a school shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Valentine’s Day.

The significance of that number was the basis for one of the parameters set by the administration: “After 17 minutes we expected them to be back in their classes,” said Gabel.

A number of parents and grandparents posted complaints about the event on social media Tuesday, some saying they were concerned that teachers might have been imposing their own political views on students.

There were more comments on local social media sites Wednesday from people who said the school district organized and encouraged the walkout.

Gabel stressed that the protest was a student-led event, conceived and organized by the students, and participation by the teachers and administrators was limited to setting the parameters.

There were also comments from individuals who said parents should have been informed in advance of the walkout, and that permission slips should have been distributed to parents who had children participating.

“I would say that, ideally, yes, we would have notified the parents in advance,” said Gabel. “We had no idea which students would be or wouldn’t be participating. We found out at 9 a.m., and the event happened two hours later. Based on that, we did what we thought was right.”

The school district contacted the parents of each student involved immediately after the walkout, to inform them of the situation. Gabel said the response was positive, and as of Wednesday afternoon he had received no phone calls or emails from parents concerned or upset with how the school district handled the situation.

“I hope the kids learned from it. We hope that parents will discuss these issues from all sides with their kids at home,” said Gabel. “We hope that our teachers continue to have these discussions with their students from all the different angles and points of view, on this topic and others.”

The idea for the walkout stemmed from discussion in a “current events” class. After examining and sharing various thoughts about school gun violence, some students felt moved to consider some kind of protest to express their views.

A comment posted at that time by sixth-grade teacher Angela Willey on her personal Facebook Page read, “Current event presentation day today and students are talking about potentially protesting about gun control by walking out of class to make a statement. This stuff makes me so proud and excited! I’m the teacher that roots for them. Stand up for what you believe in!”

Gabel said that the walkout evolved from that classroom discussion.

“There had been some discussion that this was a possibility, but I don’t know that anyone knew this was going to happen,” he said.

Willey said she encouraged Josiah in this endeavor, but did not realize he planned to stage the walkout on Tuesday until he announced it to the administration that morning. Willey said that Josiah chose the time of day because it was an unstructured free period, a time which would be the least disruptive to the school.

Willey’s social studies class requires students to bring in current events items to discuss twice a week.

“These are not necessarily politically-related, but sometimes they are,” she said.

After the Florida school shooting, many students wanted to talk in class about the topic of gun violence.

“We talked about all the pros and cons of gun laws, about the Second Amendment and what can and can’t be done with gun regulations. A lot of the students did not understand all of the different issues involved,” Willey said. “We always try to look at things from all sides.”

Willey said that stories about other students speaking their minds sparked interest in her class.

“We talked about student protests around the country, and Josiah mentioned that there was a group of students in Florida who had protested on behalf of those who had died.”

At that time, Josiah mentioned that he was considering organizing a protest here.

“I just let him run with it,” said Willey. “I told him I wasn’t going to help him, that he would have to do the research and the organization by himself, but if he wanted to go with it, I would encourage it.”

She also told Josiah that he should be well-prepared if he was going to attempt to organize something.

“I told him to know what it is you’re standing up for, and know why you’re there,” Willey said. “We talked about how kids who protest will sometimes have backlash, and be told things like ‘they shouldn’t be doing that, they’re not old enough to know what they believe.’”

Willey said she warned the students that if they chose to protest, that there could be consequences.

“We’ve also talked about the First Amendment and freedom of speech. I’m passionate for people standing up for themselves,” said Willey. “I’m proud of the kids who stood with Josiah, who all took the time to do the research to know what they were standing for.”

Willey said that after the walkout, she thought Josiah and the other students felt a sense of accomplishment.

“They all came in with smiles, and felt like they’d been heard. They were full of energy and happy, and they felt they had gotten their point across,” said Willey.

“I’m proud of him for following through with it,” she added. “It brought tears to my eyes when he came back into the school with a smile on his face.”