Students take part in gun violence protests
JANELLE ANDERSON’S reasons for marching in Wednesday’s protest of school gun violence were twofold.
A 17-year-old senior at Las Vegas Academy, Anderson said she is concerned about school safety in the wake of last month’s shooting at a high school in Parkland,
Florida, that left 17 dead.
But, she’s also concerned about everyday gun violence. Anderson’s older cousin, 20-year-old Dylan Ray Martin, was shot dead in late February in the desert area of east of Las Vegas.
“He was my cousin, but he’s more like a brother to me,” she said outside the school during the walkout, wearing a blue T-shirt with Dylan’s name on it. “It wasn’t a public, mass shooting, but he still died at the end of a gun.”
Across Clark County, students at nearly two dozen schools called for change through walkouts, sit-ins
SCHOOLS
and other presentations. The 10 a.m. events happened across the country one month after the Parkland shooting — with media outlets reporting tens of thousands of students participating in every corner of the country. Schools that have witnessed mass shooting, including Columbine High School, Newtown High School (where former Sandy Hook Elementary School students now attend), and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
In Clark County, the demonstrations took different forms. Some lasted 17 minutes — one for each of the victims — but others were extended with speakers and presentations.
Taking a different tack
Shadow Ridge High School took a different tack altogether. Each student was given 17 Hershey’s Kisses and encouraged to find a student they didn’t know, give them a candy and then ask them an ice-breaker question, Principal Travis Warnick said. Students also engaged in a letter-writing campaign.
The total number of local school observances was not clear, but events occurred at Bonanza, Clark, Coronado, Desert Oasis, Desert Pines, Eldorado, Liberty, Mojave, Palo Verde, Rancho, Shadow Ridge, Silverado, Spring Valley, Sierra Vista, Valley and Western high schools; A-TECH, Las Vegas and West CTA academies; the private Meadows School prep school; and Democracy Prep and Equipo Academy charter schools. It was not immediately known if protests that weren’t sanctioned by school administrators were taking place at other schools.
At least three middle schools marked the occasion, as well. Students were shown a video Sig Rogich Middle School, according to officials.
About 185 students at Mannion Middle School in Henderson exited the building and congregated around the flag pole at 10 a.m., according to a message sent home to parents. None of the students was disciplined for participating, but students that climbed onto block walls and into planters were reprimanded, Principal Todd Petersen said.
The Clark County School District initially opposed the walkouts, warning that students could face consequences if they participated. But officials later softened that stance, noting in a message to parents that it’s acceptable for students to participate in activities that remain on campuses and are approved by administrators beforehand.
Clark County School District Police Capt. Ken Young said “nothing major” occurred at any of the protests.
Chanting and carrying signs
At Las Vegas Academy, students and at least one teacher poured out of the school during its lunch break, holding signs and chanting “protect kids not guns” and “NRA stay away.”
Fran Curcio, a 45-year-old English teacher carried a sign reading “Arm me with social workers.”
“The issue is bigger than the NRA and guns. It’s about mental health,” said Curcio, adding that she opposes being armed with a gun, as some