Editor’s Note: Superintendent of Schools Jon Sills sent this message to the families of Bedford students on Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Dear Families,
As principals craft messages specific to each school, please take note of this district-wide perspective on the impending March 14 event.
As is age appropriate, we are planning for different responses to the call for national student walkout on March 14 at the four Bedford schools. In all cases, however, we are guided by certain principles, all focused on what is best for all students.
General principles governing walk-outs include:
- political debate, civic engagement, and activism are important educational experiences for students
- students have certain First Amendment rights, but those rights do not include disrupting education
- public schools should not take political stands
- during school time, teachers should not advocate particular political positions, but rather create opportunities for students to explore different views and voice their own opinions
- students who do not wish to be so engaged should not be ostracized or pressured to do so
- generally, the same rules should apply to student-led political protests regardless of the issue
Memorial Commemorations
However, of equal importance, memorial commemorations using school time, whether as loud speaker announcements, school-wide assemblies, or classroom-based actions, have a history in our District and transcend politics. The high school, for example, assembled on the football field following 9/11 to honor the fallen; moments of silence were shared following Sandy Hook, and we have created a monument to honor BPS graduates who fell in Iraq and Vietnam. Honoring the students and faculty who were killed in Parkland clearly fits into that tradition.
Accordingly, the high school administration will enable students and teachers who so choose to honor their peers who were murdered at Margory Stoneman Douglas High School by placing a twenty-minute break from classes, similar to our typical daily break, at 10:00 am on the 14th. Students may choose to honor their Parkland peers by walking to a designated location for the 17 minutes, or they may choose to not participate and remain in school instead. We will provide faculty supervision for students who choose to remain in the building during that time. We will also clearly express the message that there should be no intimidation or ostracism from either direction.
Safety and the Community
The school, working in close conjunction with the police department, will ensure the safety of those students who do walk out. The students will be kept separate from any non-school personnel who might wish to observe or participate in this student-led commemoration. This will not be the place for community members who may wish to make a political statement about school violence to merge with students engaging in the walk-out. This is because it is a school event, specifically a memorial commemoration, and because we cannot guarantee our students’ safety if they are mixed in with non-school personnel who do not have the Criminal Offender Record Information check that is required of all adults who interact with school children during school hours.
Political Speech
We accept that some students may choose to use the opportunity to exercise their political speech rights during the memorial commemoration. As long as it is peaceful and respectful, this will not be prohibited. However, the district is clear that this will not be a time for teachers to do so. The only legitimate basis for the school or staff to actively participate in this “during school time” event is as a memorial commemoration of the Parkland tragedy.
Other Schools
At the middle school, there will be a school-wide moment of silence, and the students’ Chain Reaction group is planning their own commemorative actions, including the wearing of orange ribbons.
For our Lane and Davis children, a memorial commemoration of students who have been murdered is, of course, age-inappropriate. Staff and administration at the elementary schools are discussing actions, not necessarily for the 14th, such as broadening the message on Earth Day, to address the importance of supporting each other in being safe.
Sincerely,
Jon Sills
Superintendent
Bedford Public Schools
Bedford, MA 01730
781-275-7588
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