by Marty Green ·
Monday, December 17, 2012
In the wake of the elementary school killings in Newtown, Conn., last Friday, people in towns nationwide are asking themselves what safety measures their own schools might have. Even while the situation in Newtown was unfolding, word reached other schools across the country, including Hildreth Elementary School in Harvard.
According to Principal Linda Dwight, her office received a phone call from Superintendent Joe Connelly alerting her staff to the breaking news. Dwight, in turn, sent out an email to teachers at the elementary school, briefing them on the situation and asking them not to converse about it where children might overhear them.
According to Dwight, the local school has three different plans for emergencies: a fire drill; a “safety in place” plan; and a plan for a safe shelter in another location. Dwight said students have already practiced the fire drill. She explained that teachers are thoroughly familiar with the other two drills but said it would not be a good idea for the children to practice those drills immediately after an incident because of the anxiety it might create for them.
Each of the safety plans is updated every year, Dwight said, to keep current with staff changes. Various faculty and staff members serve as point people, with particular assignments in case of emergencies.
In her career as an educator, Dwight has already dealt with the aftermath of violence and its effect on children more than once. The 2006 shootings at the West Nickel Mines school, in which five young Amish girls were killed and five others wounded, took place in Lancaster County, Penn., less than three miles from the school where Dwight was principal at the time. She also had to help students cope with their emotions in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Dwight observed that the teachers in Connecticut followed their own safety plan very well, locking classroom doors, moving children away from doors and windows, and keeping children as calm as possible until police arrived.
Along with many others in Harvard, Dwight attended the candlelight vigil Sunday night on the common and said, “It was beautiful.”
Dwight and Bromfield Principal Jim O'Shea sent email letters to parents in Harvard this weekend (read them here).
Teachers at Hildreth Elementary met on Monday morning, along with the school counselor and school psychologist, to discuss ways to respond to children who have heard the news. But, Dwight emphasized, the school wants to respect parents' choices of how to talk with their own children about it.