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STAFF REPORT
PASCACK PRESS/NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
Pascack Valley/Northern Valley, N.J. — Local high schools joined a widely reported 1 million students nationwide who walked out on March 14 in solidarity with Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a gunman murdered 14 students and three staff members on Feb. 14.
Fueling the mass grassroots action is frustration that the federal government has not implemented many arguably commonsense gun control measures nearly 19 years after the mass murder of 12 students and a faculty member at Columbine High School in Colorado, and more than five years after 20 children and six staff members were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut.
The frustration comes even as school districts have used staff and time resources creating exacting emergency action plans, coordinated with local police, outlining protocol for all variety of imaginable danger, and conducting routine lockdown and active-shooter drills.
At Pascack Hills High School in Montvale, the tragedy hit particularly close to home: among the victims at Stoneman Douglas was 14-year-old Alyssa Alhadeff, a former resident of Woodcliff Lake.
“Teenagers must be prepared to turn helplessness into hope, vulnerability into strength and disaster into change. We can no longer settle for thoughts and prayers while our lives and futures are on the line,” said Sean Sheikowitz, a Pascack Hills sophomore.
“Every day the news brings awareness to yet another school shooting. It’s unsettling to think that the next one can just as easily be us. This is no longer about politics, this is about our safety. Fight back and ensure this will never happen again,” she said.
At Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, in a dramatic conclusion to the walk out, students loudly chanted the theme, “Enough is enough! Enough is enough! Enough is enough!”
Students also accused politicians of pandering to National Rifle Association lobbyists.
“We are here today to say that our senators and our congressmen and our president must do better to protect our lives. Our safety is worth more than the money that the NRA gives them,” said student Eiman Raus at the Englewood protest.
Student activism is expected to continue in the coming days. A “March for Our Lives” protest is set for Saturday, March 24, centered on Washington, D.C. but taking place in towns and cities across the nation and around the world.
“To me, the shooting in Parkland was just another reminder of the gun issue that we have in this country. There are too many instances of students losing their lives at the hands of disgruntled people with access to firearms,” said Alexis Oliver, a senior in the Information Systems Academy and another leader of the walk out in Englewood.
“It’s frustrating that this keeps happening, and it’s clear that something has to change,” Oliver said.
At Cresskill and Tenafly high schools, students also participated in the walk outs.
“We, the students of [Tenafly High School], no longer feel safe in our schools,” said Romi Azulay, who emailed Northern Valley Press. “We have seen school shootings, which are a unique phenomenon in the United States, go on for far too long. Too many innocent lives have been lost; so as we mourn their deaths and remember their lives, we are also standing up as a school and saying that we want to see change.”
In events closed to the public at the Northern Valley Regional High Schools in Demarest and Old Tappan, students and staff could be seen outside participating in orderly forums as speakers addressed the crowd in turns.
“Our students have planned, organized, and coordinated all efforts surrounding this demonstration that calls for peace and unity,” said Demarest Principal Timothy Gouraige, in an email to residents.
No one was obligated to participate, he said.
At Westwood Regional, officials estimated half the students in grades 8–12 filed out of the side of the building for their vigil.
Approximately as many students elected to spend the time at Campbell Auditorium, High School Principal Frank Connelly told Pascack Press that afternoon.
Westwood Middle School students reportedly had the option of taking to their gymnasium to mark the occasion.
And in Emerson, students—instead of walking out—were urged to “walk up” to the people in their lives who care about them, such as teachers, and to return the kindness.
In an email to the school community, Kelly L. Riedel, director of school counseling, wrote “Tomorrow and more importantly moving forward, please think about a walk up. Walk up to those alone and include them. Walk up to teachers and school staff and thank them. Walk up to those with different views and get to know them. Build a foundation of love and hope. We challenge you all to do this in honor of the lost in Florida and make it habit not just tomorrow but going forward.”
A multitude of students in Emerson also took to the athletic field at 10 a.m. for 17 minutes of silence—one minute for each of the lives lost at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
—Tom Clancey, Michael Olohan, Hillary Viders, John Snyder and Kathryn Cambrea contributed to this article.