The Adults
Chris Malone- N.C House Representative for Wake County District 35, Deputy Majority Whip
Q: Why do you think it is important for young people to be involved in politics?
A: You are the future, our leaders of tomorrow, our next senators, congressmen and president[s], our university presidents and chairmen. Our leader[s] will largely come from your generation. It is always better for you to be involved and to learn the process from those who have already come down the pike, have been doing it for a while and learning the ropes.
Q: Do you believe that teenagers voices are being heard in government, especially after the recent walkouts and protests coming from primarily teenagers?
A: Conversation is great but if you really want to be a force you have to put some muscle behind it. If you’re willing to do that people will notice and they will listen to you. We do hear you. You can find ways to learn from people, the education process never ends.
Q: What measures would you personally be willing to take to ensure safety in schools?
A: In 2013 and in 2015 we did school safety bills so we were already doing that and [there was a] presentation the other day that showed that there were very few problems since 2012. Wake Forest High School has an anteroom you come through: One set of doors and then there’s another set. I think that’s a good thing to have where you [have] a SRO officer at that location at all times [and] you can have another one doing rounds. [The school] can’t let the people leaving in side doors coming back in the same way so that’s got to be taken care of and [the door must be] looked at. I don’t believe in teachers carrying guns but I wouldn’t mind a school marshal program. Imagine a sky marshal program, where somebody has access to weapons somewhere on campus and has been very well trained on how to do it. There would have to be training involved, there would have to be certification and any other concept developed by the task force. I don’t think it’s good [for] kids to be seeing a teacher walking around with a weapon, I think it is also a danger. Having said that, hardening the school would be a good thing [such as] more cameras, metal detectors, SRO officers on board. I think and you need mental health [treatment]. [There] are probably somewhere around 25,000 gun laws in this country right now. All the applicable laws failed at Parkland. Incompetence and ignoring the law doesn’t make us safe, and more laws won’t make those people who didn’t do their job (In this case the FBI and the sheriff’s office) any better at it. Enforcing the existing gun laws down there would have done the job in keeping people safe. After all, that is what we want right? We don’t need to expand laws, enforcing the laws we have will do the trick. Make us safe.
Dr. Del Burns- Temporary Wake County Superintendent
Q: What impact do you think students have on policy and politics?
A: Students have a tremendous impact on both. The voice of students matters and it matters a lot. The role of the students in shaping public policy is something that needs to be attended to and listened to.
Q: Do you believe that young people are being listened to by the school system and politicians?
A: Very much so. [I] can’t speak for other districts or other politicians, but I do believe the local delegation in Wake County is paying attention. The school system certainly is. It’s very difficult to deal with [the] tragedy [that] occurred, something that is hard to even think about and the fact that students [are] speaking for themselves, wanting to have their voices heard, is, again, very powerful to me. So, yes, the school system is paying attention. Student-led, student-initiated activity is what we’re talking about; whether it be at the poll [or], whether it’s a non-disruptive peaceful protest regardless of the issue.
Q: Do you think our school system is safe? Is there anything more we could be doing or is there anything more we are doing?
A: Yes, I think our school system is safe. We have [many]lots of protocols and procedures, you practice those in every school you’ve been in. We have design features in newer schools, and [in] older schools we are doing renovations to do what we can. So, to modernize was to focus on safety features. That’s part of the struggle. Being able to share with you what can be shared, but, at the same time, not make public information that someone could view and choose to find a way to defeat. There’s a tension in it. And so, that’s part of public policy. It’s trying to figure out how [to] do you do the good that you need to do to preserve what you need to preserve and talk about it in the right way. So, you may not be getting some answers that are really satisfactory in some cases but there’s more to the story. But, yes I think our schools are safe. Could they be safer? Yes, however, it’s a matter of that tension between convenience and safety and practicality. We’ve always been focused on safety, we’ve been more focused, frankly, since Columbine.
Q: Do you think there is a better way students can project their concerns or do you think the walkout was the best way?
A: Paying attention, being well-informed about the issues. When you are able, vote, vote, vote. That is your right in this Democratic Republic and that is the most powerful and important thing you can do. Whether you are on one side of an issue or another, what matters is that you vote. That’s one of the things that’s exciting to me, the idea that regardless of the issue there seems to be a re-engagement of students interested in political processes and in voting and in public policy. The reason the school system doesn’t take a position on this matter– it’s not that I or other folks in the district don’t have strong opinions, you can probably guess what they are, but I can’t further any position because I’m a public official. Your teachers are public officials. Whether its an election, you can talk about issues but there’s a line where you start talking about preferring one over the other as an individual, that is a line we can’t cross. That said, the idea that student-initiated and student-led activity could have a result is a positive thing.The minority views matter too, because of rule of law. Rule of law, not a rule of people.
Q: Do you have any comments you’d like to make about the prospect of arming teachers within schools and the safety of that?
A: Yes. Teachers go into education because they want to teach. They are trained in pedagogy and in content information to teach. Their experience as they are growing into great teachers is around teaching. I believe that teachers are hired to teach, and that should be their job. The same is true of folks that go into the law enforcement. They go to college, typically in criminal justice or some other area, because they want to protect and serve. They’re training, they’re educating. Their education is in the knowledge and skills necessary to do that. They have tremendous training requirements, and they do a phenomenal job in just that– protecting and serving us. I believe they are hired and paid to do that job, I think there are teachers and other school employees that are expert marksman and marks-women and there I’m sure are law enforcement folks who are excellent teachers. But law enforcement folks aren’t hired to teach, they are hired to protect us. Teachers aren’t hired to protect and serve in the same way law enforcement officials are. My view is that teachers need to teach and law enforcement needs to protect and serve. That is my opinion and my opinion alone.
Liz Simpers- Wake Forest Town Commissioner and Associate Branch Director at the Kerr YMCA
Q: Why do you think it is important for young people to become involved in politics?
A: I think our future is going to be shaped by [your] decisions and I think it starts at a very simple level of how you interact with people in your own community and that it goes up from there. I think it is easy to get involved in national politics because it is a bandwagon effect, [but] it is harder to put yourself out there and be involved in your local community
Q: Do you think that young people who cannot vote have any impact on legislation?
A: I do. The reason I think so is because people are watching what you all do and people want to know how you’re affected by local legislation so the more you speak up the more your voice can be heard even if you can’t vote.
Q: How would you recommend that young people who cannot vote become involved in politics and have their voice heard?
A: The Town [of Wake Forest] really wants to know what young people think about our decisions because you are going to be the ones living here, having your kids here and hopefully you stay here. So I think first of all find out what your town has to offer, find out what your county has to offer or find out what your school has to offer and then grow from there.
Malik Bazzell- Wakefield High School Principal
Q: What is Wake County’s stance on the National School Walkout?
A: Wake County has an official position, deemed ‘political matter’ and as a public school we have to be apolitical within the matter. However, I support the students’ rights to free speech, and that’s the stance I’m taking with the students. I’m not standing in their way. I would like to be abreast to what goes on, so that we can have conversations about it, and maintain consistency with other schools and their students. I support anyone who feels passionate about a particular issue and wants to do something about it. That activism, as we’ve seen before in the past, is led and pushed by younger generations. They bring the change we sometimes need.
Alison Cleveland- Wakefield Middle School Principal
Q: In your opinion, what do you think the impact of middle schoolers stepping up can do to the overall movement?
A: I think for any youth, at any age, learning how to have a voice around something they believe in is important.
Q: Do you think young people, especially at middle school age, can make a difference within legislation, regarding this issue?
A: I think it has to be more than just a walkout or just a protest. If they want, and this is for any issue, if they want to make a difference with the legislature, they need to be vocal and consistent. Because if it’s a one-time movement, one-time protest, it might be forgotten, right? And it needs to vary, it shouldn’t just be a walkout.
Q: Do you think it’s important for middle schoolers, even elementary school kids perhaps, to stand up and raise their voices on this issue and advocate at the age that they’re at, or should the matter be left to an older generation like the high school students?
A: There’s a reason for freedom of speech, right? There’s a reason that students of any age should have the ability to speak their opinions. I think there’s power in doing that- in advocating for yourself and for what you believe in, whatever the issue is. The cool thing for students with this specific issue is that they have personal ties to it. So that makes more of an impact because their message is stronger [and] clearer.
Dorothy Corrigan- Media Center Specialist at Wakefield
Q: Why did you feel it was important to register students to vote?
A: Being a child of the 60s and 70s, activism was the [largest] thing, we used to go and demonstrate all the time against the war in Vietnam. When I was 18 my friends were getting drafted and there was a lottery system. They pulled a number each day of the year and then whatever your birthday was, that was your number. So, if you weren’t in college full time, you wound up in the army. If your number was anywhere below 150 for several years, you were going. We had a lot of pushback to that. We knew it was not a just thing to be doing and we were angry that it was our friends that were being killed, for what? We couldn’t even figure out why. Marching was important, but the end result that we were after was political change because the person who made the decision to go to Vietnam was the President of the United States. If you don’t vote then you can’t effect change. To me, the demonstration parties were very important, but it has to be followed with activism on everybody’s part and the only real power you have is your vote. Everybody’s vote counts, so to me that’s the important part of activism. It is nice to take a stand, but now you have to do something in order to make a change in the world.
Q: What impact do you think Wakefield students can make from voting at such a young age?
A: They can make a big difference. [If] a lot of people who stand together take action and by voting things can change. We elect different people, who have different opinions, and we get a different result from our government because ultimately that is what your vote will do.
Q: Do you think youth voices will be heard?
A: I do. Again, if [there] are big enough numbers of youth voices, and it looks to me as though there are. I think this [the Parkland survivors have] real promise because they don’t seem willing to go away and that is the difference. That walkout was last week, but what have you heard about this week at Wakefield High? Nothing. That is how things would change if there are groups of young people who are willing to keep it going. [March 24 there was a march in] Washington and there are local marches here and how many teenagers will be there and how many of them will contact their legislators? — it has to keep going. I have [a] feeling that this group in Florida is willing to keep it going. They seem to have a real dedication and they keep saying they are not going to give up and I think it could make a difference.
Jasmine Alston- Counselor at Wakefield High School.
Q: In light of recent shootings, especially Parkland, what kind of grief counseling does Wakefield have in place?
A: Counselors do offer grief support in school. It’s not necessarily [long term], we can do it every day for an hour. So if a student loses a friend, family [member], or [if] they lost somebody in the past and they are having a bad day, they are more than welcome to come talk to any counselor and we’ll help them with that process. That’ll be any situation– for something as large, which I hope will never happen, as a school shooting or if a part of their family [or a] friend passed away, or a family member being sick–we are able to offer them support through grief counseling.
Q: What would you recommend students do if they know of a potential threat?
A: If any student knows of a potential threat, the first thing they should do is find an adult immediately. Don’t go home knowing the information, don’t put it on social media. Try to tell an administrator, counselor or teacher in confidence. You want to tell an adult in this building so that we can address it immediately. If you know something, show [the adults] where [you] saw the threat, or heard the threat, but don’t put that on social media or tell your friends. Come immediately to an adult so that we can address not only the threat but make sure that all students are safe if anything like that is heard.