As a follow-up to the Sandy Hook School shootings last Friday, our administrators, counselors and school psychologists created resources for our teachers utilizing the Resource Library on the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) web site.
Links to these resources were made available to parents on Friday afternoon through postings to Beachwood Schools' social media sites, including Twitter and Facebook. Early this morning, these tip sheets and guidelines were distributed to teachers and staff members in the event that students voiced concern at school today over Friday's horrific incident.
Below are links to several of these informative articles, offering advice on talking to children about violence, school shootings, and tragedy. In addition, I am providing you with a "social story" that was made available to our teachers at Bryden Elementary as an additional age-appropriate resource. I hope that these resources provide guidance for you and your children as we all react as a nation to this senseless act of violence and begin to cope with this event.
Our principals and support staff across the district did not address the incident directly with the children through any organized assemblies or class counseling sessions. Rather, the administration remained visible throughout the day and the guidance counselors and school psychologists were available to talk individually with any child who expressed a concern. They found the need to talk with a few students individually, but overall, they observed that our students seemed to have settled into the normal routine of the school day and school schedules and instruction occurred as normal.
As always, contact your child's teacher, guidance counselor or principal with concerns.
Our hearts go out to the families and the entire community of Newtown, Conn.
Dear Beachwood Community,