Student walkout: Shore teens demand action on school shootings

Hundreds of Shore students stood up from their desks in the middle of class and strolled out Wednesday, walking past their lockers, through the front door, and into the warm sunlight in an act of civil disobedience intended to draw attention to America's unending horror: deadly school shootings.

Outside Middletown High School South, some 300 students sat in silence by the main entrance while the names of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting victims were read, one by one, for 17 minutes – 60 seconds of quiet for each life lost.

At the same time in Stafford, several hundred students stood in a semicircle on the grass of the south lawn of Southern Regional High School, listening respectfully as two of their classmates read off the names of the slain and allowed for a still reflection of the massacre that occurred one week earlier.

Watch the video above to see and hear these young New Jerseyans talk about why this is so important to them.

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On Feb. 14, a 19-year-old former student walked into Stoneman Douglas in Parkland, Florida, and fired what authorities said was more than 100 rounds from his legally purchased .223 caliber AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

The 17 dead included three adult staff members and 14 students; another 15 were injured.

Kyra Zdep and Laura Esposito, both 18-year-old seniors, organized Wednesday’s walkout at Southern Regional.

Zdep said the proliferation of social media has made the world smaller. What happened in Parkland – although 1,200 miles away – seems less distant and indeed even personal to her.

“With social media, we see their tweets and their Facebook posts about how heartbroken they are and it’s relatable, and it’s terrifying,” Zdep said. “If we don’t make a change, I don’t know who will.”

“What really hit me were the Snapchat stories,” Esposito said. “(The Florida students) put up their videos on Facebook and Instagram and they were being sent to everyone and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is me. This is me.’ I know the captain of the swim team. I know the Junior ROTC kid. … These are my people, too. It just made me realize, this could be us. We could be next and it should end here.”

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In Parkland and elsewhere, students have been using the post-shooting spotlight to call for lawmakers to take meaningful action on gun control, a recurring theme after every mass shooting – one that usually results in few new laws passed in Washington and in state capitals around the country.

Supporters of gun rights have argued against proposed restrictions on guns, citing the Second Amendment. "America is not Australia – we are not going to do away with private gun ownership," argued U.S. Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., in an essay.

MacArthur, whose district includes Southern Regional, argues Congress should spend more on background checks, school security and getting illegal weapons off the streets.

More student actions are in the offing, including a National School Walkout March 14 and a national March for Our Lives March 24 in Washington, D.C., both events aimed at keeping the pressure on state and federal policy makers.

“I think we definitely need to fix the laws we have on guns because times have been changing and you never know what could happen,” said Quinn Mott, 15, a sophomore at Middletown South.

Both Zdep and Esposito said they strongly believe that greater gun control is the answer to stopping the carnage.

“If nobody is doing something about it, then it’s time for the next generation to step up and say ‘This is what we want and we’re not going to rest until someone does something about it,’” Esposito said. “Because what do congressmen love more than anything? To be re-elected. And who are going to be the people in a few years who will have the choice to re-elect them? Us.”

But, according to the student organizers in Middletown, Wednesday's walkout at South was not about students staking out a position in the increasingly ruthless gun control debate.

“Regardless of the politics behind this, 17 lives were tragically cut short and I felt that I needed to honor that in some way,” said Sofia Casamassa, 18, a senior.

“Every child should be able to feel safe in their school and be able to learn without fear of guns or any other danger or violence," said Matt Lewis, a 17-year-old South senior. "More than anything we just wanted to show solidarity with the victims.”

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The walkouts were sanctioned in both cases – if not wholly endorsed – by school administrators in Middletown and Stafford.

Bill George, Middletown's public school superintendent, released a statement saying that "we respect our students’ right to express their feelings."

"Our students’ sympathetic support for the victims and their understanding of this complex societal issue was evident in their appropriate actions," he wrote.

No students would be disciplined for participating, George told the Asbury Park Press.

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Southern Regional Superintendent of Schools Craig Henry said he was not without misgivings over whether such a demonstration was in everyone’s best interest.

In the end, Henry concluded that he needed to trust his student leadership. He could see how much this meant to them and how committed they were to recognize this moment.

“It was described as a memorial observance for the 17 lives lost and to stand in support of their fellow students grieving in Florida,” Henry said. “I know some of the follow-up discussion with the press turned into a conversation about their beliefs on gun control, but the ceremony was not political and it was not controversial.”

Henry had promised that no student would be penalized for their participation but he wanted assurances that there would be no major disruption in the school day. He got them.

Henry stood with several hundred students on the lawn of the high school as Zdep and Esposito read the name of each victim and then paused for a minute of silence – 17 minutes in all.

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Russ Zimmer: 732-557-5748, razimmer@app.com, @russzimmer