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the Mokena Messenger | March 22, 2018 | 5
Students, community react to #NationalWalkoutDay
T.J. Kremer III, Editor
As thousands of high
schools around the country
galvanized to show support
for victims of last month’s
shooting at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School
and to raise awareness of
gun violence by participating
in national walkout day,
Lincoln-Way Community
High School District 210
students were a no show, at
least to anyone outside the
buildings.
According to an emailed
statement from D210
spokeswoman Taryn Atwell:
“Students at all three schools
gathered in different designated
areas in our buildings
... In some areas, student
leaders honored the Parkland,
Florida, students by
speaking to their classmates
and reading the names of
those killed; in other areas,
no discussion occurred.”
An estimated 300 students
at Lincoln-Way Central,
which represents approximately
14 percent of the
student population there,
participated indoors in one
of several administrationdesignated
spots, or simply
outside their classrooms in
the hallway.
Over at Lincoln-Way
West, things went pretty
much according to plan, according
to junior Elizabeth
Prynn.
“Going to the walkout,
there were faculty members
standing at every exit of the
school,” Prynn said.
According to multiple
social media posts, signs of
protest could be seen held by
students, including at least
two Gadsden flags and at
least one American flag.
“There were a few kids
at the protest who had some
flags and signs, but it was
taken away,” Prynn said.
Prynn described West’s
assembly as well-organized.
The student leaders were
already at the gym and on
the podium were orange
balloons, which would be
released after the reading
of the Parkland students’
names.
“I decided to protest because
I feel like something
more can be done, so we
can be safer in schools, and
we don’t have to feel like
there’s this threat that could
happen,” Prynn said. “I want
something done, so we could
feel safe.”
Samantha Keel, another
junior at West, said the walkout
ended up being indoors
partly because of the weather,
and partly because of administration’s
concerns over
safety, but that the assembly
had met its goals.
“It was kind of a memorial
more than a protest. It was
very respectful,” Keel said.
“There were plenty of officers
around because of the
rumors that someone was
going to try something. I felt
very safe, and it was very
respectful. We definitely did
what we were trying to do.”
Across town in Frankfort,
things were far from any
sense of orderly and organized,
despite the students’
best efforts.
Outside of Lincoln-Way
East, more than a dozen area
residents lined the sidewalk
in front of the school in a
show of support for the students.
Frankfort resident Rebecca
Guillemette, whose son
Drew attends Lincoln-Way
East, showed up with her
daughter Jenna, a seventhgrader
at Hickory Creek
Middle School, and her
mother, Linda. The three
family members wore blue
March for Our Lives T-shirts
and plan to attend the national
rally in Washington, D.C.
on Saturday, March 24.
“[We’re here] in support
of the activism ... against
gun violence and against
guns in the schools,” Guillemette
said.
Mike Polski, who said he
had been an activist since
1980, held a large sign that
read “Big money corrupts
politics!” in large green letters
and said he was “sick
of” gun violence.
“Kids getting slaughtered
in Sandy Hook, Connecticut,
and Florida, Pulse nightclub
by weapons of war ... when
the Second Amendment was
written, a gunman can only
shoot two bullets a minute,”
he said.
Students at Lincoln-Way
East began planning their
assembly about a week after
the Parkland shooting.
Watfae Zayed, a senior at
East and one of the eight organizers,
said the group decided
the professional way
to approach things was to go
through the proper channels
with administration.
Administrators, specifically
East’s Principal Dr.
Sharon Michalak, said the
school wouldn’t promote
it, but wouldn’t stop it, and
stated there would be no
consequences. About a week
before the walkout, organizers
were told by the principal
that students would no
longer be allowed outside
because of some students’
concerns for safety.
But the East organizers
had other ideas.
“We were thinking it over,
and we realized we wanted
to stand with the rest of the
nation and do it outdoors,”
Zayed said.
But the students weren’t
able to leave the building.
Exits were blocked by security
and deans, Zayed said.
So, students began walking
toward the fieldhouse but
saw some others heading toward
the courtyard, so some
students went there instead.
Zayed said that students
got an email that morning
notifying students they
would not be able to leave.
Michalak made the announcement
around 9 a.m.
that no one was to go outside.
This caused mass confusion
among students.
“We were really upset
with the way that it was handled.
We were really split,”
Zayed said.
“I just think we were treated
like children when, in reality,
we took the adult route
about it. It was people of all
grades of the school, and we
agreed the right way to go
about this is to talk with administrators.
So we did that.
We were meeting, communicating,
doing everything the
way we were supposed to,
but then I felt like the whole
thing was pulled out from
under us.
“We felt like the whole
thing was sabotaged, in a
way. And it was really hard
to keep things organized,
even from an hour before. It
divided the school more than
it united us.”
Some faculty members
even suggested that students
do 17 days of kindness instead
of 17 minutes of remembrance
as an alternative
to the assembly, according to
East junior Grace McMann.
“I disagreed with that
because why can’t we do
both?” McMann said.
“We believed we had a
right to assemble, because
it’s our First Amendment
[right],” McMann said. “We
wanted to still go out to the
flagpole but were told we
could not.”
McMann said members
of law enforcement and administration
were standing
in front of exits, preventing
students from leaving the
building.
“I’d hoped we could be a
better community than what
we were [March 14],” Mc-
Mann said.
East senior Mackenzie
Miller said “it felt strange”
that students were not allowed
to go outside considering
they were not intending
to make a showy
political statement.
She said that while the
police presence was likely
there to help keep the peace,
it also felt to her like they
were there to make them feel
“intimidated” and herd the
students toward the fieldhouse,
where they were being
encouraged to go for the
gathering.
Although the main goal of
the gathering was to honor
and remember the victims,
Miller said when the 17 minutes
were over she didn’t
feel like that was the end of
the conversation.
“This was a really lovely
memorial kind of thing, but
we can’t just stop here,”
Miller said. “And we have to
keep talking about this and
keep pushing for what we
believe for change.”
District 210 Superintendent
Dr. R. Scott Tingley, in
a request for comment as to
why students were kept indoors
during the preplanned
walkout, issued this statement
via email:
“Concerns from parents
and administrators, along
with recommendations from
law enforcement were determining
factors in choosing
to keep the students indoors.
Students were made aware of
this update during the morning
announcements, before
the walkout took place; they
were informed that they were
not to leave the building. Although
law enforcement and
administrators were at the entrances,
at no time were students
physically prevented
from leaving the building.
The safety of the students is
the district’s responsibility.”
Teresa Stinnett, a former
member of the Frankfort
School District 157-C
Board of Education, said she
thought the students should
have been able to leave campus
during the walkout and
expressed disapproval over
the way the administration
handled the matter, calling it
“a shame.”
“They’re using, ‘Oh,
we’re fearful,’” she said.
“Well, every other school
that the kids are walking out
of throughout this country,
they probably had the same,
the same crank calls saying
something’s going to happen.
But that’s what you
have the police for, that’s
what you have security for.
You do not take away somebody’s
right to dissent.”
The Southwest Suburban
Activists plan to co-host a
local March for Our Lives
rally with the Illinois chapter
of Moms Demand Action
at 2-4:30 p.m. on Saturday,
March 24, at Breidert Green
in Frankfort.
Additional reporting provided
by Contributing Editors Nuria
Mathog, James Sanchez and
Assistant Editor Amanda Stoll.
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