Students march for campus safety
Students crowd at the theater steps with Rosemary Cromwell speaking on stage (Maitri Rane, The Puma Prensa)
By Sophia Hughes, web editor and Christian Bon, web editor
In the wake of the stabbing of Jayden Pienta, a Montgomery High School junior, several hundred Maria Carrillo High School students took matters into their own hands, walking out of their fourth-period classes to take a stand for schools around Santa Rosa. In response to the recent increase of threats and other concerning incidents in Santa Rosa City Schools, students in association with the organization Value Life SRCS, arranged a protest demanding change that included a walkout from fourth period classes and a march down Montecito Avenue toward Middle Rincon Road and back.
The walkout started at noon on Friday, March 3, with a large crowd of students gathering at the theater steps in the upper quad. Josephine Rivera-Hoagland started the assembly by voicing the need for an increase in communication between the administration and students and a focus on rethinking security at our campus, putting into words one of the main emotions driving students' response: “We’re scared.”
To kick off a round of speeches, Rami Nacouzi, former Montgomery student and senior at Maria Carrillo, spoke directly to the administration, pleading for them to help students “feel safe again” and shouting how shocked he was when hearing news about the stabbing. But, he said he was “not surprised at the mishandling of the administration.” He attempted to unite students by emphasizing their goal of change within the schools to make students safer. “Let us stand with Montgomery, demand accountability, and not forget this tragedy.”
Next, Olivia Cruz, an MHS junior and close friend of Pienta, spoke out on the injustices of the stabbing. She said, “He had his whole life ahead of him,” and that Pienta “should have been there standing next to [her].” She added emphatically, “It shouldn’t take someone’s life to prove we need to do better” and ended with a powerful, tragic sentiment: “High school failed my friend.”
The last of the first round of speeches was delivered by MCHS senior Rosemary Cromwell, who went on a passionate tirade against the course of action the school has used to handle alarms, evacuations, and other safety related incidents. “We the students lacked information” and “our parents hear about all of this before we do,” she said. As a result, she said, “We feel secondary.” Cromwell ended with a climactic exclamation: “Trying to sweep this under the rug doesn’t do s—! We’re not f—--- blind!”
The walkout came to many students’ attention through the Instagram account @mchs.walkout, which informed students of the time, place, and purpose. In preparation for the protest, students created signs with phrases such as “Fear has no place in schools” or “My fear should be finals, not fatalities.” A piece of paper was even taped to Maria Carrillo's marquee at the front of the school that read “It hits close to home when it is close to home.”
Students attending the walkout said they did so to fight for their voices to be heard. In response to the recent issues, they requested that the administration consider different and better solutions. Junior Lucy Benedict said she would “like our Title I classification back” as it could help understaffing and improve communication in the future. Title I is a form of federal funding to help support low-income students at their schools. Other students said they are for more organization in the event of emergencies. Krrish Menon, junior, said, “I’m hoping to see proper lockdowns.” Regarding how the first false gun threat to our school on Feb. 15 was handled, with classes not entering full lockdown even when they were ordered to by police, Menon said he felt that “classes were more important than us.” Others like senior Delany Bright and junior Angel Washington elaborated by advocating for separate alarms so students can differentiate lockdown protocols from other threats such as fires and earthquakes. Other students interviewed also asked for the return of student resource officers (SROs). Students like seniors Rami Nacouzi and Jai Gray and junior Sydney Moore all supported the idea of getting an SRO back, or at the very least taking in the student's opinion on the matter. This sentiment was shared by Sergeant Matt Crosbie, a former SRO himself, who came to the walkout in support of keeping students safe. Crosbie believes that “SROs who can build relationships with students” make them “feel safe to bring their concerns” to them and will “make schools safer.” Another idea that was highlighted by students like seniors Joy Maitiro and Timothy Liu was an increase in information during and after threats, even if there is little to no information available at certain times they would rather have full transparency than nothing at all.
After the initial speeches by Cromwell and others, protest organizers called for members of the crowd to march. The hundreds in attendance then filed out from the upper quad down the road, emphasizing the importance of their demands. Some students raised handmade signs, some shouted at passing cars, and many others simply walked along on the sidewalk or in the bike lane alongside. The route stretched from Maria Carrillo to the intersection just before Oliver’s and back again. Some spectators gathered as well, cheering on students from driveways or sidewalks. Many passing cars honked their horns in approval. “Our community, our kids, need to be more safe on a daily basis,” said Rupinder Malhi, a mother who attended the walkout. Another community member, Eloise Powers, said “I am so proud of each and every one of these students.” She continued, “These are our future and if we don’t start protecting them we are going to fail as a country.”
After the walkout, students were directed again to the theater steps by event organizers for a final speech given by senior Will Mosier. Mosier summarized the events of the hectic past couple of weeks at Carrillo, highlighting that clearly, emergencies happen frequently enough that SRCS needs a new system.
“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,” Mosier said. He also used the speech to point out deficiencies within the current emergency protocols schools have, such as how the path Carrillo uses to get to the football field, the area where students and staff are supposed to gather to make sure everyone is accounted for, is a “crowded bottleneck” that could be “dangerous during a rapid evacuation.”
“Having a single evacuation point poses a further risk if a shooter were to attack students on the field,” Mosier added. “Because of COVID, they got $60 million in aid from the state….They still have $9 million left of those funds, and they can spend it on anything—there’s no regulations,” he said. Mosier reinforced the need for students to stick together and support each other when he stated, “Only through the cooperation of parents, teachers, students, and administration can we bring about change!”
Immediately after the walkout, the school went on lockdown once more after a gun threat that turned out to be false was reported at Rincon Valley Middle School, located just up the road from Maria Carrillo’s campus.
With the lockdown that transpired immediately after the walkout, its obvious problems likely won’t stop coming, but the students attending the walkout hoped the proposed changes will make conditions better.
Ricardo Bolanos, junior, when asked why he attended the event, said, “We are all very hurt, we are all very drained, but I believe there is hope in the student population to make the future brighter.”
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Editors’ Note: Rosemary Cromwell and Josephine Rivera-Hoagland are two of the four editors of The Puma Prensa, but they did not work on this story.