Long Island Students Walk Out To Protest Gun Violence

Emboldened by a growing protest movement, Long Island students taking part in the ENOUGH National School Walkout left their classrooms for 17 minutes Wednesday — one minute to remember each person murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Growing up in the post-Columbine era — the time after the 1999 school massacre in Denver — they have never lived in a time when there weren't school shootings. And they have had "enough."

Some Long Island districts were supportive and even helped organize the walkouts. Others warned students that they would face disciplinary action if they walked out.

At Lindenhurst High School, students who walked out were initially suspended.

"We live in such a broken society," one Lindenhurst student wrote on Twitter. "I participated in national walkout day today at my school to remember the 17 victims and peacefully protest for the reform of current gun laws and my school SUSPENDED me and 36 others for it."

Those suspensions were later downgraded to detentions.

"The decision to suspend the students was " re-evaluated based on a series of factors including a review of the students’ records, the peaceful nature of their protest and the fact that the poor weather conditions required a last minute deviation from the outlined plan with limited time to effectively communicate those changes," Lindenhurst Superintendent Daniel Giordano said in a statement. "As such, the administration has downgraded the disciplinary action to reflect a less severe offense."

At Ward Melville High School in Setauket, more than 100 students walked out carrying signs and chanting, "Enough is enough," and "Hey, hey, what do you say? Not today, NRA." Three Village District officials did not support the walkout, citing safety concerns, but none of the students who walked out face disciplinary action.

"“My whole thing is I’m not going to not do what I believe in out of fear of someone being violent, because that’s really why we’re protesting,” Bennett Owens, one of the organizers of the Ward Melville walkout, told the Village Times Herald. “We’re protesting the fact that we’re not safe in school.”

Zoe Perles, a senior at Northport High School who organized a student-led walkout there with fellow senior Ryan Dowling, told Patch she was amazed that close to 200 of her fellow students took part in the walkout.

"I'm so inspired by how many of my peers decided to show up today and have their voices be heard," she said.

The Northport High School administration was not involved in the walkout, but supported the students' choice to participate.

Image from Northport High School courtesy of Zoe Perles

A student at Rocky Point High School who was suspended for walking out posted the disturbing video below on Twitter that shows a man waving a knife at a student during a school board meeting concerning school safety Wednesday night.

Nowhere in the country were walkouts more poignant than in Parkland, where students said they felt the strength of America at their backs.

"Today is special," Stoneman Douglas freshman Priyank Rampat, 15, told Patch. "I think it's just amazing. It's what's keeping us going."

With reporting by Beth Dalbey