Greetings,
GreenMount Community,
As I sit here thinking about how
to address the absolutely unthinkable tragedy that occurred on Friday in
Connecticut, I find myself forgetting all that I had rehearsed over the
weekend. Like trying to understand exactly
what a trillion dollars means, it is hard for all of us to comprehend the scope
and impact of this horrible event.
Nevertheless, it is our responsibility as school staff and as parents to
help our children and our school community feel safe and secure at GreenMount.
We had our usual Monday Morning Meeting today, but
only with our students in grades 4-8. I
had questioned the wisdom of speaking to the younger students, and Ms. Laura
validated our decision with some research she did on the subject over the
weekend. Also, attached to the
newsletter you will find two articles provided to us by AIMS this morning that
may be helpful to all of us as we grapple with how to make our children feel
safe.
How safe is The GreenMount
School? The answer to that question is
evolving. We all fall into routines of
trust and comfort as long as nothing happens.
Then when an event such as the one at Sandy Hook takes place, we are
shocked into the realization that we need to do more to improve our
security. And so it will be that the
staff will meet Wednesday to discuss how to improve our crisis plan and how to
better train our children to handle any emergency. As the President said last night, we haven’t
done enough. I am positive that school
leaders and their staffs around the country, and even around the world, are
questioning their security today and thinking of ways to improve it. Discussions with parents this morning and
with teachers have already resulted in some good ideas for improvement. First and foremost, you may experience some
delays in opening the front door. If Jen
or anyone manning the desk does not recognize you, you will be asked to
identify yourself as you are spoken to on the buzzer.
Because of fire escape regulations, we cannot lock the
back gated area or the gate that leads from the parking lot to the learning
cottage. This is one of those issues
that will require unique plans that all children and adults in the building
understand. Also, any parent who is in
to substitute must see Jen in the morning to review the crisis plan (once
revised). I am sure that you are anxious
to know that we are addressing any gaps in our security, and I can assure you
that we are doing so immediately. We
will develop a new crisis plan and more drills will be carried out along with
our monthly fire drills.
This morning, a few parents hugged me as I waited by
the front door. I think this meant that
they trust us to take care of their children.
Indeed, this is our highest priority.
The students will remember that the first meeting we had in September
was focused on the fact that safety comes first. If children do not feel safe, it is much
harder to focus on learning. I spoke to
the students this morning about how they can support each other and how they
must consider how they treat each other.
I spoke briefly about being bullied, which seems to accompany the
profile of many who perpetrate such acts.
Then, following our meeting, two students came to me to ask if they
could conduct a peer mediation group in which students can discuss issues they
may be having with each other.
This is the kind of student we have here. You are the kind of parents who make them so
thoughtful and caring. This makes our
job so much easier. Thank you.
Finally, the flag is
appropriately at half-mast today and I am thinking of leaving it that way –
lest we forget.
Have a great holiday break, and
hug ’em hard!
Cheers,
Steve
