Published in the March 21, 2018 edition

By DAN TOMASELLO

LYNNFIELD — Lynnfield High School students have had enough.

That was the message 300 youths sent after walking out of their classrooms for 17 minutes on March 15. The 17-minute long walkout served as a tribute to the 14 students and three educators killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida as well as call for tougher gun control legislation.

The walkout was originally scheduled for Wednesday, March 14 to mark the one-month anniversary of the Parkland shooting, but school was canceled for a second straight day due to last week’s blizzard.

THREE HUNDRED Lynnfield High School students walked out out of their classrooms to show their support for the victims of the Parkland, Florida shooting on March 15. (Dan Tomasello Photo)

The 300 students who walked out of class filed out of the high school’s front lobby and proceeded to walk around the front circle in the parking lot at 10 a.m. School officials and School Resource Officer Patrick Curran monitored the situation closely and there were no incidents.

“We wanted to show our support to the people in Florida,” said senior Nick Bisconti in an interview with the Villager. “It was a horrible situation. I think gun control needs to be addressed because stuff like this keeps happening. It’s not okay and doing this shows we want to have stricter laws and we want to support the people in Florida. It should have never happened and it shouldn’t happen in any high school. We come here to learn. We don’t come here to fear for our lives. I think this brings light to the tragedy.”

Senior Sebastian Fadel agreed.

“I think it’s a good cause,” said Fadel. “It’s something we should do to pay our respects.”

The Villager asked a number of high school students to comment on the walkout, but most declined. One student did hand the Villager a flyer that read, “The NRA deserves its final resting place upon the ash heap of history.”

In addition to the 300 students, a dozen teachers also walked out of their classrooms and stood near the high school’s main entrance and watched students make their way around the front circle.

In a letter sent to parents and guardians, Superintendent Jane Tremblay said high school students were the only students who participated in the walkout. She said there were no elementary and middle school teachers who walked out of class.

“The students walked around the front circle in an orderly and respectful matter,” said Tremblay. “The students walked into the building in the same orderly and respectful manner at 10:17 a.m. The students were back in their classrooms and it was business as usual by 10:20 a.m.”

While there were no walkouts at Lynnfield Middle School, Tremblay said in an email there was a police presence at LMS just like the high school.

Tremblay commended the entire high school student body for their behavior.

“I was incredibly proud of all the students who participated in the walkout and those who chose not to,” said Tremblay. “The entire Lynnfield High School student body showed a tremendous amount of respect for their school as students were orderly and well-behaved.”

In addition to the walkout at LHS, The Associated Press reported tens of thousands of students from all across the country walked out of their classrooms to demand action on gun violence and school safety.

While the walkout was taking place at Lynnfield High, a small group of people held signs in support of the event on the Town Common. One woman held a sign that read, “Enough is enough.”

When asked what the community should take away from the walkout, Bisconti said, “In times like this, we need to band together.”

“It’s easy to point blame,” said Bisconti. “But I think if we stay as a unit as a community and strengthen our community as a whole, stuff like this won’t bring us down. We can persevere and get through tough times like this.”

Fadel concurred with Bisconti’s viewpoint.

“I think everyone should show their support in this time of need,” said Fadel. “Everyone should be part of a community like this.”