PLAQUEMINES PARISH – A high school student is getting the attention of local leaders with his pleas for changes to prevent mass shootings in the future.
Peyton Pipher is a sophomore at Belle Chasse High School and loves politics. Last week he took a trip with his dad to Washington, D.C. and he even got to meet House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.
The same day as meeting Scalise, he heard about the deadly school shooting in Florida. He was not happy with what he heard in Congress that day.
“They weren't agreeing. That's when it came to me, our national leaders, they aren't going to be the people that make change. That's when it inspired me as a young person to stand up and say ‘hey, we need to do something,’” Pipher said.
So Pipher turned to Facebook and wrote a very passionate post that made its way to local leaders.
“The one thing that caught my attention, is that he said he was scared to go to school. And when I saw that, it really gave me a lot of concern," Plaquemines Parish Councilman W. Beau Black said.
“We can't comfort ourselves thinking this can't happen here or this won't happen here. It can happen at any school in this nation, and we need to put forth the necessary actions that, if God forbid something does happen, we have an immediate response there to protect students,” Pipher said.
So Pipher met with Councilman Black the day he got back from D.C. and the 15-year-old is speaking at the next school board meeting and the next Plaquemines Parish Council meeting.
“I knew that if I provide a student’s perspective, if I let them know that we are honestly scared to go to school, I knew that people and our leaders, would have to have no choice but to make change and provide comfort to us,” Pipher said.
Councilman Black says he thinks the change that Pipher wants will come.
“I know the sheriff, when he ran for sheriff, talked about having resource officers in the school, and now I think it's going to happen,” Black said.
Black says he also wants more full-time counselors at the schools to help what he sees as the root of the issue; mental health.
“This is not a school board issue, this is not a police issue or sheriff's issue, this is a community issue. This affects everyone,” he said.
Pipher said that he wants to make sure that he plays a part in preventing situations like this from happening in the future.
“I don’t want to be reactive. I don't want to be in the situation where we have to look back and say what did we do. Why haven't we done anything? I want to be proactive. I want to do everything we can to make sure my home, my friends, my family, that this never happens here,” Pipher said.