As I see it (and I am very, very, very biased) @COJasonGlass @SuptEwert our school districts have a choice to make regarding the various protests that are planned by students and teachers. Our districts also have intimate acquaintance with the issue.
I sorta see three options. 1) Hard line: forbid and punish 2) Middle ground: "we support our students and teachers right to protest but cannot support walking out of school" -also known as "cop out" 3) Get behind it, organize, use it as a teachable moment.
Our districts constantly say that our "first priority is the safety of our students". Perhaps it's time we prove we mean it.
Claire.
Cassie
Steve.
Corey.
Kelly.
Matt.
Daniel.
Rachel.
Isaiah.
John.
Lauren.
Kyle.
Dave.
On April 20th, 1999, I was standing at the circulation desk in AHS's library when we first heard about shots fired at Columbine, probably at about the same time the shooters were entering the library at Columbine.
On December 13, 2013, I was not standing in the library at AHS when the shooting happened, but by chance was in a meeting in the main office. (thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2014/01/121313…)
On Tuesday when we go back to school I'll go to teach in my classroom. On the other side of the wall of my classroom is where Claire was murdered.
When I'm not in my classroom I will be at my desk in the library, in the line of sight and within about 60 feet of where the murderer shot himself.
In fact, my desk is about equidistant between those two positions. At some point during the day my daughter, who wasn't born in 1999 and was an 8th grader in 2013, and is now a Senior at AHS, will drop by my desk.
Before you respond to my question (should you decide to respond), I would like you to picture responding to her. Or to Claire. Or to the 13 casualties at Columbine. (I almost said victims, but there were many, many more victims than deaths).
Or to the students at Marjory Stoneman. Or Aztec. Or North Park. Or Marysville. Or.... I can't bear to keep typing the long, long list of schools.
We change our schedules for PLCs. We change our schedules for standardized testing. We change our schedules for snow. Can we really not change our schedules for this?
If you search *any* of those high school names I mentioned earlier on Google Images, including Columbine and AHS, the pictures that come up are of the shooting that happened at each school.
To me, that means we have a special responsibility to not only address this, but to *lead* this.
Would it be controversial? Yes. Would some people disagree? Yes. But we constantly tell our students that they should stand up for each other, to stand up for what is right. What message does it send if we aren't willing to do the same?
