As Belmont High Walkout Kept From Public View, Watertown Protest An Open Affair

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Photo: An image from the Belmont High School National School Walkout. (Special thanks to Seneca Hart and Sonya Epstein for making the rally photos available.)

On Wednesday morning, March 21, about three dozen people made up of parents, residents, town officials and the media stood on Concord Avenue near the exit of the access road leading from Belmont High School. Bundled up against a cold east wind, the adults came to support those students taking part in the “ENOUGH: National School Walkout” protest.

But the residents’ location was more than a quarter mile away from the school, having been barred from coming close enough to be seen or heard by the students. Belmont Police vehicles were stationed 100 meters along the access road from the school’s entrance, blocking the public and press from coming any closer to the walkout. Police officers told press representatives that the public way as “school department property.” producing a map on a mobile device from the Office of Community Development purporting to show the property surrounding the high school including all the land, paths and roadways around Clay Pit Pond.

“They control it,” said a Belmont Police officer.

In a letter sent to a parent of one of the walkout organizers, Belmont School Superintendent John Phelan wrote that students “safety,” and preserving the educational integrity of the school required the event being held far from the public and press. The student organizers – Lydia Fick, Seneca Hart, Gayané Kaligian and Georgia Sundahl – had reached out to the media to help promote their cause and allow the greater Belmont community to hear what they had to say on effective measures to reduce gun violence at all schools. But the department’s purported concerns for the students trumped the campaigners’ efforts to raise the debate beyond an assembly at the high school.

At 10 a.m., what appeared to be groups of student began assembling in the plaza at the school’s entrance and on the roadway. Then … silence.  What was being said, who was being honored, how Belmont students were reacting to the tragic events of last month was lost in the distance the Belmont school department deemed necessary to keep the students safe from the greater community.

At the same time Belmont students were meeting, two-and-a-half miles away a similar walkout took place at Watertown High School. The home of Belmont’s traditional sports rival, several hundred students stood outside that school’s front entrance to hear speeches and stand in silence as the names of the 17 students, teachers and staff killed in the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were read and a candle placed on a table in their honor.

But rather than police stationed to limit access, anyone who came to the Watertown walkout was welcomed. The students were joined by a dozen members of Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment who assembled across the street.

As reported by Charlie Breitrose, editor of the Watertown News, the powerful comments of Watertown High students provided context to the event, one which was not lost on students and the public.

“The lack of stricter gun regulation is putting our lives at risk,” said Watertown junior Seren Theriaul. “This Walk Out is not a protest against our school but yet against a government that has failed us.”

Other Watertown students urged continued activism on preventing gun violence at schools. “The group behind the Walk Out will organize voter registration drives at Watertown High School, and he encouraged students to stay involved through events such as the March to End Gun Violence rally in Boston and on Saturday, March 24,” wrote Breitrose.

“If you have an idea or passion or belief and if you are a liberal or you are a conservative, make your idea be heard,” said senior Jeremy Ornstein. “No one side will make these schools safe, we need every voice.”

“Today, Watertown, let’s mourn quietly and tomorrow let’s keep our voices loud,” Ornstein said. “Parkland, I’m so sorry.”

In Belmont, student photos of the rally began popping up on social media. Images of kids in a crowd, arms around each other, demonstrating solidarity. Yet the collection of pictures resembled one of the so many events that take place at the school; a Memorial Day remembrance, a sports celebration, the first day of school.

As the students began moving back into the school, the residents along Concord Avenue started loudly chanting that they supported their cause and action.

But it appeared that no one at the school could hear.

Belmont High School Bars Public, Town Officials, Press From Student Walkout

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 Photo: Poster of the event

A student-led protest at Belmont High School will be a private affair as education officials are barring the public, town officials and the press from attending the “National School Walkout to Protest Gun Violence” event taking place on Wednesday, March 21 at 10 a.m.

“As you are aware, the public is not permitted on school grounds during this event,” said Kristen Murphy, community engagement coordinator for the district. It’s reported police will prevent traffic and people from traveling on the public access road fronting the school. Murphy noted that principals Dan Richards of Belmont High School and Michael McAllister of the Chenery Middle School will be able to speak in the subject after the event.

According to John Phelan, Belmont’s School Superintendent, only students, and staff will attend the event taking place outdoors on public space. 

“[S]tudent safety is our main concern,” said Phelan in a letter responding to William Fick, the father of one of the student organizers. Phelan defended the restrictions of outsiders attendance out of “concerns regarding student safety and minimizing disruption to the education process.” The ban includes those who only wished to observe the protest and publications and broadcasters reporting on the event.

Phelan did not provide examples how observers and media outlets would constitute a safety concern or how their presence constituted a disruption of education. A week earlier thousands of schools across the US held 17-minute  rallies without incident, including Belmont Day School located off Concord Avenue. The private elementary/middle school also invited the press to view the middle school students in their protest.

Last May, Belmont High students organized by then junior Barbara Joseph, held an impromptu rally against racism that circled Clay Pit Pond and ended by the flagpole at the school’s entry. Despite a large number of students attending, there was no public safety incidents.

Phelan was responding to Fick who raised constitutional issues on eliminating the public from the protest, specifically when it come to barring the press, calling that decision “unlawful” as the protest is a “newsworthy event.”

“In light of the nearly unfettered access BHS affords to local media for other purposes (sports, Promenade, performances, etc), the exclusion of media from the walkout is transparent “content discrimination” unrelated to any permissible basis to regulate the “time, place and manner” of protected speech activity,” said Fick, who is a Boston-based defense attorney who frequently works in partnership with the ACLU of Massachusetts. 

While the students agreed to stay on school property to respect the Administration’s “expressed concerns for decorum and safety,” “… the purpose of the protest is not simply for students to talk to each other, which they can do all day within the walls of the school, but to make their voices heard in the community and among elected officials,” said Fick.

Fick noted to Phelan that while the public will be restricted from entering school property, the access road and sidewalk running in front of the school are public ways as is the community path around Clay Pit Pond. Fick requested the school department to inform him of the “purported legal basis for any such closing of outdoor public property.”

While Fick reminded Phelan of the Supreme Court decision, Tinker v. Des Moines, that “students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech and expression at the schoolhouse gate,” Phelan stated that “Belmont recognizes” that ruling, “however, there is a well-recognized legal principle that administrators must ensure safety of all staff and students as well as minimize the disturbance to the educational process.” 

Blizzard Delays Belmont High Students ‘Enough’ School Walkout To March 21

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Photo: Poster image.

Tuesday’s blizzard has placed a hold on town high schoolers joining fellow students from across the country on Wednesday to collectively say “enough is enough.” 

According to the local student campaigners, nearly two feet of snow and the cancelation of schools on Wednesday will delay by a week Belmont High School’s participation in “ENOUGH: National School Walkout” by a week.

“Some … will go to the [Massachusetts] statehouse, but the walkout will be postponed until [Wednesday] March 21,” said Belmont High School senior Seneca Hart, who with Lydia Fick, Georgia Sundahl, and Gayané Kaligian is organizing the Belmont action.

The walkout – conceived and promoted by EMPOWER, the youth branch of the Woman’s March – will take place across the country on Wednesday, March 14, at 10 a.m. and last for 17 minutes to honor the students and teachers murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School exactly one month since the crime.

When Hart – who is also the student liaison to the Belmont Human Rights Commission – first heard of the walkout, she felt Belmont High students should participate in the action happening.

“I used the Action Network to see if there was an event at my school because I knew I wanted to participate, but there wasn’t yet one. I saw a need and I filled it because this movement is important to me, and more than that, it’s really empowering students across America,” said Hart.
 
The senior believes the time is now for teenagers and students to speak up on the issue of gun violence and safety at school.
 
“So often we’re dismissed because of our age, and this is the first time a lot of us feel like we can finally prove we’re serious about change and know what we’re talking about,” she said
 
Hart said she and her colleagues’ efforts have been met favorably by their fellow students.
 
“So far most of the students I’ve talked to have been supportive and eager to help. I have encountered a few students who disagree with our goal— that we need stronger gun control on a state and national level — but for the most part those people have expressed that they still respect what we’re doing because this is democracy at work,” said Hart.
 
The walkout’s agenda in Belmont and around the country will be short and simple.
 
“We will not be having ‘speakers’ per say, but we will have a moment of silence, a reminder of why we’re walking out, and the student volunteers will be reading anonymous statements from students,” said Hart.

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