My heartfelt condolences go out to the family caught up in the tragedy that visited our school community last week. This event left me shaken; I have two children at this vulnerable age, and the imagination quickly runs to the unthinkable.
And although I've thought about it quite a bit I have been at a loss as to what to say here. I do view this event as a failure of the school district and the school board. What could we have done or should do to prevent a recurrence? I don't know. But I do know that our students spend a significant portion of their time in our care, and we have an obligation to provide a environment that provides physical and emotional security for each, regardless of the other factors in their lives. The fact that this occurred indicates to me that we have failed at that goal. We need to carefully consider what might be done moving forward.
For a view of how a school board can impact school climate you might check out this article in Rolling Stone. The article is not uncontroversial, and has a different focus, but to me it illustrates how what happens on the school board can directly influence school climate in positive or negative ways.
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(photo ©2008 Bruce Fritz)
About Me
- Peter Sobol
- My family moved to Monona in 2003 and have been happily ensconsed in the Frost Woods Neighborhood ever since. I have 2 kids who graduated from Mg. I have been serving on the school board since April of 2007. We moved back to the Midwest in 2002 after spending 10 years in California, where I was a Department Director for Maxtor, a Fortune 500 company. In truth we left California largely because of the school situation - chronically underfunded schools did not offer the kind of programs or opportunities we wanted for our children. We picked Monona because our thorough research showed that this was a place we would really like to educate our kids. Our experience has taught us to value the quality schools we have here in Monona, and the importance of careful stewardship to maintain community support for those schools.
3 comments:
Thanks for putting yourself out there on this, Peter. It is a welcome contrast to the sweep it under rug position taken at the high school. This could be a tremendous opportunity for students to learn about mental health issues. So many rumors swirling and so many people making irresponsible comments on FB and other site who don't know the details. Glad you are focusing on the big picture. Please do your best to keep pushing this issue so that we don't end up being THAT school with a chain of these events.
The primary concern among the staff at this point must be to minimize the chances that other students who are also struggling will follow suit. It is not uncommon for clusters of suicides to occur in a school.
My understanding is that best practice is to treat the incident respectfully but minimally. You don't want a suicide to be seen as a way to garner attention.
"The primary concern among the staff at this point must be to minimize the chances that other students who are also struggling will follow suit. It is not uncommon for clusters of suicides to occur in a school.
My understanding is that best practice is to treat the incident respectfully but minimally. You don't want a suicide to be seen as a way to garner attention"
That is what they say and I have no idea it is the right thing.
My HS daughter asked while driving to the orchestra event last night-will the recognize her?
IDK. Do you think they should? She said IDK? I was just wondering. What is the "right" thing?
Yes, thanks for putting yourself out there. This is all very difficult.
I think you are correct it is a failure. Honestly, I like how some of our administrators and staff have dealt with it while others I wonder about.
Yes, how was she missed? How can the next one be avoided? It keeps me up at night lately and I am not on the board or a staff member.
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