18-year-old running for school board after school punished walkout
A 18-year-old high school student is running for the local school board after her Long Island school attempted to punish her and classmates for joining a national walkout demonstration against gun violence.
Gabrielle Anzalone, now in her last semester of high school, said she is running for a seat on the Lindenhurst Board of Education in order to enhance communication between administrators and the student body, reported Teen Vogue.
Anzalone and nearly three dozen of her classmates walked out of classes on March 14 in honor of the 17 people slain in a mass shooting at a school in Parkland, Fla., the month before.
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The school board issued suspensions to the students that were downgraded to “extended detention” before being canceled due to an order by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D).
Anzalone said school representatives apologized to her for not listening to student requests to participate in the walkouts. She told the magazine that she was “bothered” by the lack of communication between students and the board.
She aims to appoint a student spokesman who will attend Lindenhurst Board of Education meetings to voice student issues and concerns.
The Parkland shooting sparked a massive national movement against gun violence.
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Students have led the charge by hosting rallies and demonstrations nationwide demanding legislative action on gun control, and survivors of the shooting quickly became leading activists in the movement.
Two parents whose daughters died in the Florida shooting are now running for seats on their local Broward County school board to bring renewed “accountability and transparency” to the school district.
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