Pennridge High School is located in Perkasie, PA, a small borough about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. Last Tuesday, 225 Pennridge students participated in a walkout to mark the one month anniversary of the Stoneman Douglas school shootings and to protest gun violence. In an attempt to discourage their students from participating in the walkout, the school scheduled its own in-house assembly to mark the event. School superintendant, Dr. Jacqueline Rattigan advised that any student who participated in the walkout, unaccompanied by their parents would face disciplinary detention. (Apparently, it sucks to have working parents who can’t afford to take time off work to look after their kids during school hours).
As promised, the school invoked detention on those students who walked out unaccompanied by parents and required that they spend Saturday morning at the school as penance for their actions.
When the students showed up for their detention, they were met by parents and members of the local community who brought donuts, cookies, and pizza. This group of children proceeded to turn their detention into a second protest, sitting for the entire detention period in silence with arms linked, prominently displaying the names of the Stoneman Douglas victims.
…And a little child shall lead them…