OUR students......OUR teachers

The tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut shakes me to the core! As an administrator, this was my worst nightmare that something would happen to my administrators, teachers, support staff AND the children in my school district. The events of September 11th, started my career as a school superintendent. This was an unsettling time as we had not faced this type of incident before. Later that fall, we had an 8th grade student commit suicide and we found out five minutes before the school day started. I experienced several students passing on because of cancer and other medical problems, a teacher and several teacher's spouses who passed away and bomb threats for two consecutive days where we had to evacuate the schools each day.

With all these crisis events, we had plans in place in our crisis manual, that were written to assist us with various scenarios. What I learned is that each situation has its own caveats and that while the manual gave you guidance, it did not help you to deal with the FEELINGS and EMOTIONS of the people. Luckily, I had a great team of school social workers, school psychologists, school nurse and guidance counselor, as well as administrators, that I could depend on to help guide us through these situations. Our police and fire departments as well as the county police and the local city were also supportive during these times.

What was amazing during these times, was that the teachers were able to keep the kids calm, supported and feeling safe. Even finding out about the death of a student five minutes before school started, everyone pitched in to meet with the faculty, prepare statements, provide support for students immediately and contact parents. The teachers tried to put their own feeling and emotions on the back burner, to first help the students get through these difficult situations. Following protocols, giving extra time beyond their school day, and giving their feedback on how the situation was handled were important to them and to me. The middle school and high school kids wanted to be at school during and after some of these events, with their friends, teachers and support staff to talk to at the school.

Our teachers do more than just teach 9 months a year, with summers off and an 8-4 job. They are with their students almost 8 hours a day! Our teachers mean a lot to most students, especially elementary students, who love their teachers. Our teachers love their students, protect them, help them, support them and love them, besides teaching them.