Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Our Children

Following the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy, communication between LPS Central Office and Principals remained open to the School Committee over the weekend.  I was inspired by what I read from our administrators: by their dedication and care for staff and students, by their thoughtfulness and collaboration with colleagues, and by their exemplary leadership to their school communities.

Some among us would be quick to point out that it is their job to do so. And they'd be right.

But while we expect school administration to review safety procedures and protocols and to forward supporting resources for students and families following such unconscionable violations on elementary school children and their educators, we should not be surprised that they reveal their deep love and care for neighbors and humanity, too.

What an incalculable loss in those twenty innocent young lives, in those six dedicated educators!

It is true that some children face deadly violence in their neighborhoods on a daily basis.  And, even though the violence rarely happens in school, wherever it happens, children are affected.  Whether the violence is experienced locally or through the media, parents, educators, and communities have had to explore ways of helping children cope in the aftermath of impossible violence.

Friday's violence happened in a school, a place where so many work every day and to which they returned Monday.  Friday's victims were children (just like ours) and others were educators (also like ours) who died trying to protect their students. One does not often think of Principals "ministering" in a kind of pastoral way to  parents and community members, but that is what they did, and did so against their own sorrow and grief.

Principals and the Superintendent forwarded excellent resources to school communities in Global Connect messages on Friday and Saturday; community members shared those messages in turn with our larger community. My heart went out to all of our teachers and staff returning to work after spending the weekend in sorrow, thinking about the needs of students, colleagues, and families and preparing for Monday.

I learned last night (at our SC meeting) of some personal ties and connections between our Town and Newtown. One family relocated from Newtown to Lexington just last year. Several staff members are connected to police, fire, and medical personnel there.

Often, when we talk about "safe schools", we mean keeping students safe from bias, bullying, from negative messages that limit their opportunities to learn and grow, not as places where life itself is in danger...

It's heartbreaking to realize that sometimes they are.