McDowell students walk out of class in silent protest, wearing red and white

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story listed an incorrect date for Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy's commencement.

Donning the red-and-white colors of a school more than 1,600 miles south, 200 McDowell Senior High School students walked out of class Thursday in protest of the nation's gun violence epidemic that led to another mass killing at a grade school in Uvalde, Texas.

Some carried signs that read "I don't want to be next," "we need change," and "parents should not be scared to send their children to school." Others held poster boards that simply listed the names of schools where fatal mass shootings have occurred: Columbine, Parkland, Sandy Hook and others.

They lined 38th Street as school officials, including Superintendent Ian Roberts and school security officers observed. Cars raced past, some drivers honking to show solidarity. Five community members stood across the street, holding signs of their own.

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"We've all had the thought, which one of us is next?" junior Delaney Glunt, 17, one of the protest organizers, told her fellow classmates, "which one of our names is going to be on CNN or Fox News now? Which parent am I going to text goodbye to first? Which desk is the farthest away if a shooter walks by in the hallway? It shouldn't come to our lives being cut short for change to occur."

On May 24, an 18-year-old man used an AR-15 style rifle to shoot and severely wound his grandmother before proceeding to Robb Elementary School where he killed 19 students and two teachers and wounded 17 others. The man, who had locked himself in a classroom after entering the school through an unlocked side door, was later killed by a member of the United States Border Patrol Tactical Unit.

The shooting was the third worst school shooting in the United States behind the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech and the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

It came just 10 days after another 18-year-old male killed 10 Black people, including a security guard, inside a Tops Market grocery store in Buffalo. A grand jury on Wednesday indicted the man with 25 counts, including domestic terrorism motivated by hate and 10 counts of first-degree murder. He also used an AR-15 style rifle.

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McDowell students' silent protest also came just hours after three shootings occurred in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Pittstown, Pennsylvania and Van Nuys, California. In Tulsa, a gunman killed four people on the second floor of a hospital. The shooter was later found dead. In Pittstown, which is a township in Luzerne County, a man attempted to shoot a woman outside of a nail salon. And in Van Nuys, a gunman shot a sophomore in the leg outside of Grant High School.

The tragedies have renewed calls from Democrats to pass gun reform legislation, including stricter background checks and bans on high-capacity firearms such as the AR-15, while Republicans have focused on mental health and school security as possible solutions to the wave of gun violence.

A protest free of politics

Glunt and other organizers Rashad Gaines and Lily Grady said the silent protest was meant to be free of politics so that students could properly honor the lives lost in Uvalde.

Such political divisions, they said, are part of the reason why lawmakers have been unable to stop mass shootings in schools.

"We believe that it first starts with community," said Gaines, a 17-year-old junior. "If we could bring everyone together and agree on one thing — that our learning environments aren't safe — then we would be doing something against this horrible thing that's plaguing our nation.

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"This isn't about gun laws or mental health or anything like that," Gaines said of the debate that has again divided the country. "This is about our schools. This is about the victims who lost their lives in Texas and all around the world, all school shootings that have happened. I hope that they do something to put an end to this."

"We just think enough is enough," Grady, an 18-year-old senior, said. "We're so sick and tired of opening our phones every day on social media and seeing another school shooting, another mass shooting. We're not here for political gain. We're just here to bring awareness about what is going on."

Tim Stoops, director of assessment, safety and security for the Millcreek Township School District, had the district's four school security officers to be on hand for the event, which district officials were aware of in advance, to keep the protestors safe as they stood along West 38th Street. Students organized the protest to occur during the high school's tutorial period from 10:40 to 11:20 a.m.

Stoops said the district is continuously looking at ways to improve safety, adding that a grant allowed it upgrade door access controls, security cameras and its radio system.

Superintendent Ian Roberts said the students made him and others aware of the walkout, which is one of the reasons he attended. He said the organization, including the decision to keep it apolitical, was all done by the students.

"I remain committed to creating safe spaces for our students, in which they can come and learn and not have to worry about their safety," he said. "I stand in unison and certainly in solidarity with our students here at McDowell, but certainly with all of our educators in districts all over this country. We have to increase our commitment to creating safe environments for students and every adult who serves, teaches and leads them. Enough is enough."

How are other districts addressing security?

Erie County school districts are keeping safety and security a top priority as the academic year draws to a close and students graduate. Some superintendents said they are putting in place new procedures to address safety.

In the Erie School District, which dealt with a school shooting at Erie High in early April, graduation attendees will be through metal detectors and undergo a bag search on an as-needed basis, Superintendent Brian Polito said. There will also be additional support from the Erie Bureau of Police for Saturday's ceremonies for Erie High School and NWPA Collegiate Academy at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Roberts said security will be a priority for McDowell graduates, whose commencement will occur June 9 at Erie Insurance Area, which has its own security.

Added Harbor Creek High School Principal Pam Chodubski, "Safety is our priority for all of our families, students and staff attending graduation."

Following Thursday's silent protest, Gaines, Grady and Glunt stood among several other organizers to discuss how they can get more community members and school districts involved in a similar event next school year. Then they joined together, putting their hands one on top of the other like a football team about to break huddle, and shouted, "Make change."

Contact Matthew Rink at mrink@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNrink.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: McDowell students protest gun violence after fatal Texas school shooting