Students from Wauwatosa East and West High Schools joined a national outcry for stricter gun control measures, partaking in coordinated walkouts on September 5th. The demonstrations, echoing chants for "safety" and "now," underscored the urgency of their demands for legislation banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, as detailed by a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel report.
Over 100 students from Wauwatosa East High School voiced their message loudly, interrupting the flow of a usual school day while a similar scene unfolded at Wauwatosa West, where a group of students left their classrooms, some wielding signs with messages like “enough money to lock up homes, but not enough to keep guns out,” showcasing their frustration not just with gun violence but also with school policies, one of them being the newly implemented no cellphone policy, this according to a statement obtained by CBS 58. Quinn Gagliano, a junior from Wauwatosa West, highlighted the palpable fear students face daily, saying, "To the people who think we're dramatic, I just want you to understand and like think, that you don't know going into school if you're going to come out because of how many school shootings there are," told CBS 58.
The walkouts, although a display of unity in the face of a shared threat, also illuminated individual concerns. At Wauwatosa West, students coupled their stance against gun violence with a protest of the district's restrictive cell phone policy. Gagliano conveyed to WISN 12 News a grim reality, where a student's farewell to parents could be hindered by the lack of access to their phones during an emergency, stating, "If something does happen, they're going to take away the only resources. Like, what if I want to say goodbye to my parents? I can't even do that."
Despite the different focal points, the consensus among the students remains unswervingly clear, safety is the priority, with Tosa East student Elias Case affirming to WISN 12 News, "Honestly, I think keeping our school safe is way more important than being in my geometry class," On the district's end, while they afforded no interviews, they have acknowledged the student's actions and in a prepared statement highlighted their commitment to "providing the district leadership with the resources to prepare what is needed for student and staff safety," a goal they argue is not disrupted by the removal of personal communication devices (PCDs) from classrooms, according to a WISN 12 News report.
