Montgomery death spurs walkouts across district
Andre Achacon speaking before the Santa Rosa Walkout (Sophia Hughes, The Puma Prensa)
By Sophia Hughes, web editor, Kevin Wei, staff writer, and, Maitri Rane, social media manager
In response to several incidents over the past few weeks including the death of junior Jayden Pienta at Montgomery High School, Maria Carrillo High School students held a walkout on Friday, March 3, which garnered the participation of hundreds of students. Some even joined from other schools, including students from Santa Rosa and Montgomery High school as well as Rincon Valley Middle School. Participants demanded better safety protocols, new alarm systems, and improved communication between staff and students. Many more protests would take place over the course of the following week.
On March 3, hundreds of Carrillo students left their classes for a demonstration scheduled at noon. The walkout attendees gathered first in the upper quad to listen to student speeches. MCHS senior Rami Nacouzi, a former Montgomery student, spoke first, addressing his initial shock at the stabbing but also stating that he was “not surprised at the mishandling by the administration.” Next Olivia Cruz, a close friend of Jayden Pienta and a junior at Montgomery High School, gave a speech after a moment of silence for Pienta.
After Cruz, Rosemary Cromwell, MCHS senior, gave a speech forcefully demanding improved communication, alarms, and procedures. She called for students to band together to fight for increased communication with students, saying toward the end of her speech, “Sweeping things under the rug doesn’t do s—. We’re not f—— blind.”
“What's happening in our area is a travesty. We put guns before our children, we put greed before our children. These are our futures. If we don’t start protecting them, we’re going to fail. As a country, this experiment in democracy is going to fail if we don’t protect our children,” said Eloise Powers, a Rincon Valley resident who stood on the side of Rincon Valley Rd. in support of the students participating in the walkout.
After marchers returned to campus, senior Will Mosier spoke before students and staff dispersed for their lunch period. “Teachers already do a lot for students—way more than the administration does—and with their unreasonable wages, they shouldn’t have to act like first responders too,” he said.
Several other walkouts across Sonoma County later in the week were advertised and organized through the Instagram account @valuelifesoco. The Value Life SoCo organization’s mission, according to Andre Achacon, is to create safe school environments. Some things they are requesting from the Santa Rosa City Schools District Board of Education include more campus supervisors, effective resources, and proper allocation of funds to support their peers. At least partly due to the group’s efforts, Montgomery High, Slater Middle, Santa Rosa High, Credo High, Technology High, Petaluma High, Sonoma Academy, Analy High, and possibly other schools participated in walkouts on Wednesday, March 8.
Previously, on Monday, March 6, the first day they returned to campus after Pienta’s death, some Montgomery High School students held a walkout. Students marched to the front of the attendance office and clustered around a microphone and speaker. Many people spoke out about the unfairness of the situation, their frustrations with the administration, and the changes they would like to see. After speaking, there was a moment of silence for Pienta as those in attendance kneeled in a show of respect. The event ended with the remaining crowd marching through the school shouting “No justice, no peace!” and some chanting of “F— Daniel,” a reference to the 15-year-old boy who stabbed Pienta.
Many were also very upset with the press. Olivia Cruz said, “The way the Press Democrat has treated us is disgusting. Get out of our faces, Leave us alone!”
Misty Pienta, Jayden Pienta's mother, voiced her grief and anger to the crowd, saying, “This sucks. I’ll never get to do the next thing with him. I [will] never get to see him walk down and graduate.”
Montgomery High School held a second walkout on Wednesday, March 8, the same day as so many other schools across the county. It started with people gathering outside the theater with a crowd including both middle schoolers and high schoolers. Speeches were given by seniors Ava Rudesill, Joey Bowser, and two other students. Then students began a march down Sonoma Avenue towards Slater Middle school. When the demonstration started there were chants such as “We want change!”
“I hope that the administration really sees the hurt in the students’ hearts,” said junior Hayden Byrne. Bowser said, “We can be angry but we cannot be violent.” Junior Kaya Vomvololakis agreed, saying she wants the administration “to understand what we want and to have safety in a positive and peaceful way. I want to make it very aware without being violent or harsh.”
Maria Carrillo High school students also held a small demonstration at the theater steps in the upper quad on Wednesday, March 8. While there wasn’t a large showing compared to the walkout, Cromwell was still satisfied. She stated the purpose of the demonstration was “trying to get as many people to be [at the board meeting] as possible.” She was very pleased with the original walkout, saying, “We got very lucky with this intense outpouring of support. We were able to get great speakers and have incredible speeches, got good chants going, and took up a lane in the streets. We even had police driving to block off part of the road for us.”
Cromwell described the demonstration on Wednesday as “a very small thing to show support for all of the other schools."
Santa Rosa High School started its walkout on March 8 at 12:00 pm. About 250 students, journalists from The Press Democrat, some staff members, and district board member Roxane McNally, Superintendent Anna Trennell, and the president of the local chapter of the California School Employees Association Mary Lehman attended the event. It began with some speeches and then transitioned to a march toward the Santa Rosa City Schools Administration Building on Ridgeway Ave. Many passing cars showed support for the students by honking. There were a couple of people from The Value Life SoCo organization speaking in front of the administration building, and then there was a march back to the front of SRHS for some final words. Trunnell observed the walkout and said, “I support students being active in civic engagement, and we welcome the opportunity to hear student voices.” She added, “I want to work with our students, our staff, our families, and community to understand what we need to do better and differently so that we are listening to our youth and what their needs are.”
One of the main organizers of the walkout, Andre Achacon, senior at SRHS, ended the walkout with a final speech. “I think the Montgomery administration needed to look deeper into the student connections and all of the violence that rose up and led up to the situation that happened with the stabbing and a death,” he said.
Ariella Peritre, junior, said, “What I ask from the schools is to stop worrying about their f—— reputation and worry about the actual students here and to stop sweeping everything under the rug and acknowledging what's happening… Because they know what's happening and they just ignore it because they don't want the schools to look bad.”
“The walkout was definitely the right way to go as it brought us together as a community. It’s a lot easier to feel empowered when you're physical with a bunch of other people,” said SRHS senior Rose Williams.
At Piner High School, around 100 students from all grade levels walked down Fulton Rd. toward the intersection with Guerneville Rd. While this walkout seemed to be more spontaneous, the school ASB had planned to have an on-campus poster-making event during lunch. As students marched, some carried signs with slogans such as “If you cared you would listen,” “I don’t feel safe,” and “Talk it out, don’t fight it out.” Some students wore white, too, in support of the Value Life SoCo organization. Emilio Lopez, a junior participating in the walkout, said he was there at the demonstration because he’s seen problems “like fights, jumpings, stuff like that.”
Value Life SoCo has started an online petition to support the American College of Surgeons initiative STOP THE BLEED, which proposes teachers be trained in first aid for severe trauma. After organizing the Wednesday walkouts, they planned to meet together again to discuss how to move forward next and what new safety policies to request