Sparta High School Participates In National School Walkout

Written by: Taylor Muse

Today, March 14, 2018, the Sparta High School student body showed their respect for the seventeen lives that were lost in the Parkland, Florida shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. After discussion between the Board of Education, Student Council officers, Vice Principals and Principal Mrs. Ferraro, the administration allowed for students to participate in the national walkout. While not all of Sparta was willing to stand outside for 17 minutes, the majority of the students were passionate about what they were taking a stance on. No one should have been walking out solely to miss class - the purpose of the walkout was to remember peers who lost their lives due to the tragedy while in silence.

Chloe Bavaro, a sophomore attending Sparta High, quickly shut down the people who weren’t considerate of the others who had silenced their voices in solidarity. “We are here to honor 17 people who had lost their lives. If you don’t respect that, then please go inside,” she pronounced to a group of students who were speaking for a prolonged period of time and didn’t have the sufficient amount of education on the issue. The remaining minutes were observed in silence as students reflected on what they can do, as the future of this country, to create change.

Students walking in after the conclusion of the seventeen minutes.

Immediately following the walkout and into the student lunch period, there was a meeting between students, administrators, and police officers that took place in the auditorium. This allowed for students to ask as many questions as they wanted to the panel get some clarification on the new safety adjustments made to the school.  




Members of the safety panel whom answered questions from
concerned students.

Here is some of what went down:

Chloe Bavaro, Sophomore: “Regarding the drill in which we go down to the track (evacuation/bomb threat drill), what will happen in the case that there is an active shooter?“

Sparta PD: “We will sweep the area before sending any kids there. Each threat and action that happens may have to give us a different movement”.

Officer Hannam answers a question asked by a student.

“Are you thinking of putting metal detectors in all 42 doors at this school?”

Sparta PD, administration: "There is a Safety and Security program being held on Saturday, May 19 in which a list of safety measures will be discussed. This will discuss changing infrastructure, adding fences, etc. However, to have metal detectors everywhere will mean a patrol must be at every door. That’s something that will be discussed.”

Taylor Brady, Junior: “As far as noticing unusual behavior, if a student comes to administration about another student acting strange, would it be handled in any particular way?”

Sparta PD: “We believe that every piece of information should be attacked viciously.”

Emily Vreeland, Sophomore: “I have noticed that since the (Parkland, FL) shooting there has been a patrol car on campus. How will that benefit us? How do you feel that changes up the security?”

Administration (Mrs.Ferraro), Sparta PD: “We want to show any type of option or plan, we want to show that we are here for the students. As far as security goes, this is to stay on top of suspicious activity. However, this is not new after the Parkland shooting. Sparta PD comes in at least three times a week to the school and the patrol car has been coming to the school at some point during the week for the past four years."

Jade Criso, Sophomore: “Speaking from what I would do in the case of an active shooter being in the school... I can say that I would run to my nearest exit and go into the woods to be safe. I wouldn’t stay put in a classroom. If you have kids, what would you expect of them?”

Sparta PD: “I can respect that. We are changing the way that we do lockdowns. We are changing how certain rooms evacuate. If we knew that the shooter was somewhere in the hall, we would get everyone else out as soon as possible, however the kids in that hall would stay there safe and huddled. Keep in mind though, in that situation, if you were trying to flee the school, and I as an officer was coming in, you would most likely be put on the ground, held at gunpoint and handcuffed because we don’t know who you are. That would also take time away from the officers to actually do their job (in handcuffing the appropriate person). They are trying to catch their targets, unfortunately though, if someone got in their way it’s just taking that time away to make sure that that person isn’t the one they’re looking for. The safest bet is to stay in the school and stay covered.”

Elise Kerim, Senior: “If we were to evacuate in the case of a school shooter, where are we going? The shooter can hear us moving and is simply  able to run to the area where we are fleeing to - how would that work? How fast can we get emergency buses?” (This was in regards to the administration proposing a grid system. With this system, when a section, or “grid” of the building is clear, students and teachers that are in classrooms of the given area are able to evacuate the building.)

Sparta PD: “Stay in the area that we clear out for your safety. You will not be released until the shooter, or whatever the scenario may be, is taken under control. We have access to all the buses available at the time. Most of the time, since we all have our phones, mom and dad come rushing through. We will move you to a different, safe location. Of course, we don’t want everyone in a chaotic scene, our response time will be extremely fast - within a minute. It will all be under control.”

Sawsan Srour, Freshman: “First, thank you for letting us participate in this walkout. (The federal government) is in debate of teachers with firearms. How do you feel?”

Administration: “I personally do not endorse having teachers with firearms. Teachers have a job to do. That’s to teach and instruct. They aren’t experts on fire arms, and taking a course to train still won’t make them experts. Let the officers handle it. Teachers need to be channeling and huddling students at that point.”

Sarah Dioneda, Junior: “What do you plan on doing to change the future of our safety drills and our new laws? Are we the students supposed to just wait until we can vote?”

Sparta PD, administration: “We are working on safety and security. We are hoping to expand security around campus. We can vote, but the student voice has proven to be stronger than those of us who have been voting for many years. The message from the student is very powerful. We have been trying to change for a long time and we haven’t been able to do so. If every eighteen year old who can vote does, we can change any law. We can’t share what we would do personally (when voting). We need to educate ourselves about the laws. That’s the best we can do.”

Principal Mrs. Ferraro addresses a student

Kevin Moran, Sophomore: “Can we participate in the walkout April 20th all day?”

Mrs. Ferraro: “It will be counted as an absence. There are many safety concerns when it comes to this because technically it’s a walk. Students would be walking to the police department, municipal building, etc. Therefore, once off campus students will be cutting because it’s not encouraged due to the safety issue. It will have to be discussed.”

Next school year, outsiders will only be allowed to enter the building if they have made an appointment. Additionally, all schools in the Sparta Township Public School system will be implementing the "lobby guard" system, which requires visitors to get their picture taken and scan their licenses before entering the building - any red flags that come up will be subject to investigation and denied entry to the building.

 Spartans, there you have it. Today’s walkout was successful. In your view, were your questions answered? Any more questions you want answered? If so, leave your comments in this blog post and/or email administration regarding your concerns and get your answers. We want you to feel safe. Thank you to all who participated and thanks to administration for allowing this to all go down with no penalty.

Be the change you want to see.

Students gather for the panel to have their voices heard.