To the editor:
On March 14, students around our country walked out of school in protest to the school shootings that have come to define their generation. While the skies and roads were clear that morning, Baldwinsville schools were cancelled due to “snow.” Was this cancellation used to avoid a walk-out among our students? The superintendent of our school district, Matthew McDonald, addressed this in an article published in the Messenger. I appreciated that he addressed the public directly regarding his decision making process and allowed students to have some sort of “make-up” protest. However, what I found disheartening were the reasons he mentioned for not allowing students to go outside for a walk-out and the choice of words he used to justify his point.
As a resident of Baldwinsville, I was a bit shocked that the safety of our students being outside of the school was a concern. Is the town of Baldwinsville really that unsafe that students cannot stand outside for a period of time without being confronted by a pedophile? If safety is such a concern for Mr. McDonald, should we be allowing students to walk to and from school? Are we putting our children at risk by allowing them to play outside for recess? Considering there is no data to back up Mr. McDonald’s safety claims, this argument does not seem valid. Not only did the superintendent of our schools not provide a valid rationale for restricting students’ protests to inside of the school, we were one of the few schools in our county to do so. As someone who was proud of the youth all over our country for using their voices to protest this important issue of gun control, it was very disappointing to see our students limited in their ability to fully participate in this civic engagement exercise.
Finally, the use of the word “crazies” by the superintendent of Baldwinsville’s schools to support his choice not to let students go outside to protest is absolutely inappropriate. The word “crazy” is a stigmatizing term that is used to describe people with mental illness. Many people try to purge words like this from their vocabulary as they often imply that mental illness is shameful and bad. It’s disturbing to me, that in a time where we are seeing rates of anxiety disorders and depression increasing among our youth, that the superintendent of our school district is using such insensitive language. I truly hope that people in positions of power, like Mr. McDonald, remember that the words they use do matter.
Jamie Bodenlos
Baldwinsville
