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Hundreds students at Mount Greylock walked out to protest gun violence on the one-month anniversary of the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida that killed 17 and wounded as many more.
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Mount Greylock Students: 'Have Difficult Conversations' on Gun Violence

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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More than 400 students stood in the snow to speak out against gun violence, joining marchers from schools across the nation. 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Several hundred Mount Greylock Regional School students Wednesday morning left the warmth of the classroom and chose instead to stand in a driving snowstorm.
 
But the frigid temperatures paled in comparison to the cold realities they gathered to confront.
 
"There have been 302 school shootings since 2013," Karen McComish told the crowd of seventh- through 12th-graders. "From 2013-2015, there was an average of two shootings per month in K-through-12 schools. In those K-through-12 shootings, over half the shooters were minors.
 
"During the three years after Sandy Hook, there were 59 deaths and 124 gunshot injuries in schools."
 
And then came last month's tragedy in Parkland, Fla., the massacre that has inspired a wave of student activism across the country, including Wednesday's National Walkout Day, when students were encouraged to take part of their day to remember the victims at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and think about the problem of gun violence more generally.
 
Mount Greylock was one of the Berkshire County schools that participated in the event. School officials estimated about 400 students at the middle and high school took part. Mount Greylock's younger peers at Williamstown Elementary also staged a peaceful protest at 10 a.m., gathering for 17 minutes on the playground. After a short speech, moment of silence and a walk around the school, the sixth-graders returned to classes. 
 
Principal Joelle Brookner wrote to parents and guardians of the sixth-graders that efforts were made to be respectful of other students and classes in session, including closing the blinds on the lower floors so as not to distract younger children.
 
"As strongly as we feel about supporting our older students' civic activities, we feel passionate about protecting our younger students' feelings of safety and their lack of knowledge of world events," Brookner wrote. "Classroom teachers have not informed younger students about Parkland (or any of the other school tragedies) and will not do so. If any of our younger students have questions, teachers will encourage them to talk to parents/guardians at home and be in touch as needed."
 
She said discussion about such topics as the Children's March have been aligned with curriculum standards to be teachable moments. 
 
"When kids are passionate about an issue, it is an opportunity for educators to help students see the connection between curriculum and real life," the principal wrote. "We respect the right of our students to advocate for causes that are important to them and support their efforts to do so in an authorized and orderly manner while at school. We thank our students for the way they conducted themselves today and for respecting the opinions of their peers who chose not to participate."
 
The ceremony at Mount Greylock began with remembrances of the Parkland victims and a moment of silence in their honor.
 
Some students had tears in their eyes as their classmates read about children just like them who were gunned down by yet another child who terrorized their school with an AR-15 assault rifle one month ago to the day.
 
But junior Sophie Jones reminded the crowd that the gun violence in America goes beyond school shootings.
 
"It is also very important to not overlook how gun violence disproportionately affects minorities," Jones said, taking her turn on the megaphone. "Black men are 13 times more likely to be shot and killed than white men. Black Americans are 14 percent of the population, but more than 50 percent of all gun homicides.
 
"Every month, over 50 women are shot to death by intimate partners in the United States. The presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of the woman getting killed by five times. In 2016, 50 were shot at the Pulse Nightclub, a gay night club in Orlando, Florida. This was a hate crime against the LGBT community."
 
Citing data from the non-profit group Everytown for Gun Safety, Jones noted that residents of the United States are "25 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than people in other developed countries."
 
But the student organizers did not leave it at that.
 
Instead, they encouraged their fellow students to work to end the cycle of violence. They noted that common sense gun control laws can make a difference, even in a nation where a Constitutional right to own firearms is respected.
 
"In Connecticut, when the Permit-to-Purchase law requiring people to obtain a permit before purchasing a gun, was enacted, gun homicides fell by 40 percent," Jones noted. "These statistics translate into lives saved."
 
Recognizing the age of her audience, McComish talked about the power of peaceful protest, like the 1963 Children's Crusade.
 
"Over 4,000 African-American students walked out of school to protest racial injustice in what was later called ‘D Day,' " she said.
 
Sophomore Maddy Art offered some concrete steps that anyone — even her fellow students — could take to effect change.
 
"On March 24, the March for Our Lives is happening in Washington, D.C., and solidarity marches are happening in Pittsfield, Albany, and other cities nearby," Art said. "Attend a march.
 
"You also have the power to effect change as a consumer. Support businesses that align with your beliefs. If you are able, donate money to organizations like Everytown or Moms Demand Action. Be vocal about the cause on social media — that allows the word to be spread and shows that we are not backing down. Make it a point to have conversations with people about gun violence and reform, even the difficult conversations. Especially the difficult conversations."
 
And for the older students in the crowd, there was a special message.
 
"The Williamstown League of Women Voters will be at Block 7 lunch on Friday to register voters," Jones noted. "Any Massachusetts resident who is 18 or older may register with a driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number. Any Massachusetts resident who is 16 or 17 may pre-register with a driver's license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
 
"No matter your views, every student should have the right to go to school without fearing for their lives. Ending this fear starts with student activism. Together, we can make change."

 


Tags: gun violence,   MGRS,   protests,   

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Mount Greylock School Committee Votes Slight Increase to Proposed Assessments

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Mount Greylock Regional School Committee on Thursday voted unanimously to slightly increase the assessment to the district's member towns from the figures in the draft budget presented by the administration.
 
The School Committee opted to lower the use of Mount Greylock's reserve account by $70,000 and, instead, increase by that amount the share of the fiscal year 2025 operating budget shared proportionally by Lanesborough and Williamstown taxpayers.
 
The budget prepared by the administration and presented to the School Committee at its annual public hearing on Thursday included $665,000 from the district's Excess and Deficiency account, the equivalent of a municipal free cash balance, an accrual of lower-than-anticipated expenses and higher-than-anticipated revenue in any given year.
 
That represented a 90 percent jump from the $350,000 allocated from E&D for fiscal year 2024, which ends on June 30. And, coupled with more robust use of the district's tuition revenue account (7 percent more in FY25) and School Choice revenue (3 percent more), the draw down on E&D is seen as a stopgap measure to mitigate a spike in FY25 expenses and an unsustainable budgeting strategy long term, administrators say.
 
The budget passed by the School Committee on Thursday continues to rely more heavily on reserves than in years past, but to a lesser extent than originally proposed.
 
Specifically, the budget the panel approved includes a total assessment to Williamstown of $13,775,336 (including capital and operating costs) and a total assessment to Lanesborough of $6,425,373.
 
As a percentage increase from the FY24 assessments, that translates to a 3.90 percent increase to Williamstown and a 3.38 percent increase to Lanesborough.
 
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