Morristown High School students who defied administrators by exiting the building during Wednesday’s National Student Walkout have been told they won’t be suspended.
Instead, they must write to Congress expressing their views.
“I went in there expecting to get suspended. But they went in a different direction. I thank them for that,” Luke Lofrumento said on Thursday after meeting with Principal Mark Manning and several vice principals.
“It tells me that they are passionate and caring and understand what is happening in their country and in their school,” said Lofrumento, vice president of the junior class.
He was the only student who did not return to school on Wednesday after leaving during 17 minutes of silence, observed in school hallways for victims of last month’s shooting at a Parkland FL high school.
Lofrumento wanted to join thousands of students across the country demanding that Congress “act on gun control immediately,” he said.
Sixteen other students who went outside the school entrance for the observance, and then returned to classes, also were called before the principal and received the same outcome, Lofrumento said.
Citing safety concerns, the principal sent a letter to parents earlier this week explaining that students would not be permitted to leave the school during this “non-political act of solidarity” with the Parkland victims.
“Students who adhere to these guidelines will not receive disciplinary consequences,” the principal wrote. Lofrumento said his conscience would not let him stay inside, even though he believed he was facing “guaranteed suspension,” a penalty other students said they also feared.
Morris School District Superintendent Mackey Pendergrast said on Thursday the District never intended to suspend students who ignored the restrictions.
“We came to a decision a month ago on how to support our students for being a positive force for change,” Pendergrast said. “We’re so proud of our students.”
During Thursday’s meeting, Lofrumento said, the principal told students the decision to restrict the observance to within the building was devised after consulting with police.
“He said that in lieu of a punishment, he thought a good resolution to this issue would be to write to our Congressmen, and write for change,” said Lofrumento, a varsity tennis player who is thinking of becoming a lawyer, like his mother.
Manning did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday afternoon.
The writing assignment must be completed by the end of spring break in early April, Lofrumento said. His parents were supportive, he said.
“They just said, ‘It’s your generation that gets affected by [school shootings]. If you want to speak out against it, that’s fine,'” Lofrumento said.
Many fellow Morristown High students feel strongly about the issue and wanted to join the Walkout, but feared the potential consequences from school, he said.
“There is a feeling that this is getting ridiculous and something needs to happen” to prevent more mass shootings, Lofrumento said.
