Students and staff at Eastern Pulaski Community Schools have been engaging in discussions about student safety ever since February’s school shooting sparked some concerns within the community.
While school officials are working diligently to address safety, students are also getting involved. For instance, students with the Winamac High School Presidential Council have organized for an assembly to be held today, in memory of students lost in the Parkland, Florida shooting.
At Monday evening’s school board meeting Winamac High School Principal, Rick DeFries, mentioned some leadership meetings that members of the student council attend and said he is impressed with the lessons they’re learning and the skills they’re exhibiting.
“I met last week with about 8 or 9 of them because they wanted to talk about school safety issues,” DeFries explained, “so I sat and met with them and they have some good ideas. It’s neat to see that the leadership ideas that they’re learning are actually coming to full term and they’re using them when they get back to school.”
The co-president of the Winamac Student Council shared that aside from mournfully reflecting on lives lost, today’s assembly is also being held as a way to advocate for action. Principal DeFries said that there will also be school officials and police officers available to answer any questions that students may have about the school’s safety plan.
The co-president added that Winamac’s event is being held in conjunction with student walkouts and other school safety-oriented events happening across the country since the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School occurred one month ago today.
