Controversy—A Way of Life for the School Leader: Gun Control, Safety, and Walkouts

Controversy—a way of life for the school leader. 

Sometimes we create controversy. Sometimes it finds us. Such is the case with the national call for school walkouts for school safety and gun control. 

Everyone is for school safety. The controversy lies in the call for gun control and in the political groups behind the call for the school walkouts. Some parents and staff support more gun control, others do not. I venture that most of my readers do not wish to support many of the political groups behind the call for a national walkout. We also do not want our students manipulated nor do we care to lose class time. At the same time, we do want to take advantage of every teachable moment. We want to give our students an opportunity to appropriately express themselves. We also want our worldview teaching to be practical, timely, and relevant. 

What to do? We could take the stance that our students will not participate and if they do there will be school discipline. We could decide that we will ignore it and see what happens—a bad idea. We could embrace the walkout and encourage students and staff to participate—many public and private schools have taken this approach. 

Each school will need to determine what approach fits its mission, values, culture, community, and context. As you consider or reconsider your approach—and as you deal with the inevitable controversy—perhaps the communication that we sent to our parents outlining our goals and approach will be helpful. 

Dear Parents, 

I am writing to update you on our response to the tragic school shooting in Florida and call for a National Walkout. As I indicated in my previous communication, my Senior Administrative Team and others have taken the time to prayerfully, thoughtfully and thoroughly consider how as a Christian school we should respond. I have also solicited the wise and godly counsel of our school board. As we considered the appropriate response we had several goals:

• Honor Christ in our response.
• Respond in a biblically informed manner.
• Respond consistent with the school’s educational mission and values.
• Seek to demonstrate our vital partnership with parents.
• Help our students develop a biblical perspective on how to appropriately process issues of this magnitude with Christlike love and empathy and to grow in their understanding of what it means to be a Christian citizen who appropriately engages in civic issues.
• Protect academic time while giving opportunities for students to express themselves in a manner consistent with the We CARE model.

Accordingly, we have developed a three-fold response.

1. A special time for voluntary prayer following chapel on March 14

    Upper School Prayer Time:

• In the last few minutes of chapel on March 14 senior (name removed) will address the Upper School and invite those who would like to gather at the plaza for a time of silence, vigil, and prayer. This time will not be about politics, it will be plea to God for help in the process of ending school violence.
• This prayer time will last for 20-25 minutes.
• Once the transition to the plaza occurs, she will begin the program with a moment of silence.
• She will memorialize each victim in Florida. She will conclude this vigil with a short prayer. The theme will be loss and mourning and empathy for the victims of this and other school shootings.
• Students who do not want to participate will be directed to their grade level commons.

    Middle School Prayer Time:

• The prayer time will last about 5 minutes (15 minutes with all transitions).
• Students will have a few minutes to transition to the grade level commons or to the courtyard by the café. Once the transition to the courtyard occurs, a teacher will begin the program with a time of prayer.
• The prayer will be focused on empathy and the families and communities impacted.
• Students who do not wish to participate will be directed to their grade level commons with teacher supervision.

2. A Voluntary Educational/Discussion Forum (April 4)

The goal of this voluntary forum is to help students better understand the complexity of the issues surrounding school violence from a biblical perspective and to understand how our students can, using the We CARE model, communicate effectively, actively listen, respect differences, and enable resolution. The forum will be as follows:

• The forum will take place from 7:55–8:55 a.m. Classes will begin at 9 a.m. and Chapel will run from 10:15–10:45 a.m. Students who do not wish to participate will be directed to their grade level commons with teacher supervision or students may arrive late that day. If you have specific questions please contact your child's principal.
• The voluntary forum will be held in the theater for students who have signed up to participate in this discussion. The Administration will send out a google form, which will enable you to indicate whether or not you wish for your child to participate in the forum. The forum is open to middle school students if they choose to attend but we will pair these students with middle school teachers.
• Prior to the discussion, the moderator, will read through the We CARE model and share with those in attendance our community norms for dealing with controversial issues. He will share statistics from national polls indicating Americans’ views of the causes of school shootings.
• A faculty panelist will read the 2nd Amendment, explain why it is part of the Bill of Rights, and how different sides of the gun control debate interpret it today. This will be a fair and balanced presentation.
• Our Director of Guidance and Counseling will highlight the characteristics of various school shooters to broaden understanding of the facts regarding them. He will then focus on our ability as a community to engage one another to provide support for struggling students and emphasize the need to make counselors/administrators/teachers aware of any concerns. He will also speak to the mental health aspects related to these situations.

3. Response to the national call for a Walkout on April 20

As you have probably heard, a nationwide school walkout will be held on April 20 at 10 am to protest school shootings. One plan is for protesters in the St. Louis area to go to Attorney General Josh Hawley’s office downtown to appeal to him for a change in Missouri’s gun laws.

This event is neither affiliated with nor endorsed by WCA. This is the event that a student emailed other students about. Recognizing that some parents may want their child(ren) to participate and that others do not, we will follow all existing policies governing excused and unexcused absences from the school. Specifically: 

• Students who want to participate must have parental permission. Parents may call the attendance line or provide a signed note granting permission for their child to participate in the walkout. We request that the signed note be submitted to the Upper School office in advance of April 20. This will be an excused absence and all school policies related to an excused absence will apply.
• Students are not permitted to leave campus without parental permission. Any student leaving campus without parental permission will be issued an unexcused absence and all school policies related to an unexcused absence will apply.

We believe the above three-fold approach meets our goals of honoring Christ and responding in a biblically informed manner; maintains consistency with the school’s educational mission and values; demonstrates our partnership with parents by requiring permission for students to participate in the walkout; will help our students develop a biblical perspective on how to appropriately process issues of this magnitude with Christlike love and empathy; will help our students grow in their understanding of what it means to be a Christian citizen who appropriately engages in civic issues; and protects academic time while giving opportunities for students to express themselves in a manner consistent with the We CARE model. 

If you have specific questions about any of the above, please contact your child’s principal. The principals will be able to answer specific grade-level questions.

I wish to publicly thank my team and members of the school board for their wise counsel in helping to craft our response. We are blessed by such capable, godly leaders!

I invite you to pray with us that God will honor this process and will cause much good to come from it. 

Sincerely, 

Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

Head of School