Students walk out, hold moment of silence
Students at J. Watson Bailey Middle School staged a school-approved walkout and moment of silence on Tuesday in memory of the victims of the Feb. 14 school shooting in Florida.
“We have about 1,300 people gathered right now that are showing solidarity and respect to the people in Florida,” Principal Debra Fitzgerald told students and staff gathered outside by the school basketball court shortly after noon. “I want to take a few moments for a moment of silence, for everyone in Florida — the students, the teachers — who lost their lives, and for the families and the students that were affected by the Florida shootings.”
A moment of silence followed.
Seventeen people died in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. A 19-year-old former student who was expelled from the school has been charged with carrying out the massacre.
“A couple of our students came up to us this morning and said that, ‘Did you hear that there’s going to be a walkout in memory of the Florida shootings and that everybody was going to be walking out at 12 o’clock?’” Fitzgerald told the Freeman after Tuesday’s event. “So Mr. (Vice Principal Dan) Erceg came up with the idea of, ‘Let’s do it all together. Let’s do it organized so everybody is safe and ... everybody can hear what the purpose of the walkout was actually for.’”
“As educators, you want to validate their (students’) feelings and their emotions that they’re experiencing now with this,” Erceg said. “As Ms. Fitz said outside, there is a better way to do things, and we thought that this might be the best way to get everybody involved so everybody was together showing support for those in Florida.”
At the gathering, Fitzgerald told the crowd: “If there’s anything that is bothering you, please make sure you reach out to somebody that you connect with. We’re all here to help you.”