From a retired principal:
I am a retired principal of an elementary school. I don’t have any answers either but, as most educators know, cuts in social workers, limited powers of educators who know there are kids who need mental health services but are constrained by “rules” that dictate which kids get help and which kids do not, and parents who cannot face the fact that their child has problems that need to be addressed. In my last year as a principal, the superintendent asked us to make a choice between cutting speech and language specialists or social workers. I expressed that this was not a choice I could make but was the only principal in the district who spoke to this issue. We educators need to speak up and tell legislators what is happening at schools.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I am re-posting this
I’ve been shaken to the core thinking about those precious innocents and their last moments while teachers struggled to protect them with their last breath.
In the name of these sweet children, we must address the serious issues that face this nation.
Yesterday, I posted on Twitter ~ In the name of these innocent children.. we need strict gun control. to hell with the NRA~ over and over again. I was at a loss for words so I just continued to post it over and over and over again.
I couldn’t believe the hate I received in return!
More evidence we need to address the serious societal issues our nation is facing,
Mental health- many posted yesterday that it was easier to get a gun than it was to get mental health services
Gun control- we need serious campaign finance rules to neutralize the power of the NRA
We often make calls to child protective services, we try to get kids the help they need with health, and mental issues, we try to identify the risks, we work on safety drills, we work day in and day out to create a safe and secure environment for the children we love and teach. Yet evil find it’s way in to our safe havens.
Sometime we can’t stop evil, yet we mustn’t ignore the things we can do to deter it. Gun control, mental health services must be thrust to the top of our nations agenda.
Enough of the blaming teachers and schools for our nations woes. It’s time for drastic action. It’s time to stand our ground and demand accountability for those truly responsible for this horrible tragedy.
I hold the NRA responsible
I hold every one of our elected official who accepted campaign donations from the NRA responsible
I hold every elected official who ever voted or blocked gun control responsible
I hold every elected official who refused to stand up and push for gun control legislation responsible
I hold those who limit mental health services responsible
I hold those elected officials continue to block legislation that expands mental health services responsible
I hold gun manufacturers and gun shop owners responsible
I hold those who produce ammunition responsible
I hold those evil people who sent me hate messages defending gun owner rights responsible
I hold the ignorant defenders of the second amendment responsible
And if we don’t stand up and do whatever we can to prevent this from ever happening again, I will hold us responsible as well.
I think a lot of us are still processing, still trying to find our words. I don’t think that this is “only” a gun control issue, or “only” a mental health access issue. I think this is but one symptom of a society that is becoming increasingly disconnected from each other. I think as a society we are losing many of the things that make us human: we reduce and cut off social time and access to the arts for even the very youngest children, we even recommend leaving difficult babies to cry it out in their infancy when the research showing the devastating effects of cortisol overload in baby bodies is becoming increasingly clear, all the while telling new parents it’s for their (parents AND babies) “own good.” When the children get to school, they spend too much time sitting and not enough time learning beyond prescribed facts and concepts, and if they aren’t deemed to be learning them fast enough or well enough, despite many of them coming to us with issues that society won’t acknowledge, much less address, we take away even more of their social and arts access. Kids are seeing more violence, real and dramatized, from an earlier age. (And the discussions about what is happening to civilians in other countries as a result of the American War Machine AND as a result of horrific practices elsewhere leading to genocides – plural – around the world, are long overdue, but not necessarily here and now.)
We’re de-humanizing our children in our society – how can we be surprised when it comes back to bite us in society’s collective backside?
These are the words I found yesterday that I felt I had to get off my chest: http://crunchyprogressiveparenting.blogspot.com/2012/12/finding-words.html I’m finding comfort and community reading other people’s thoughts around the Web today.
Very well said…thank you!
Absolutely! It may be that from the distance of being retired we see the bigger picture more acutely than when we were in the center of the chaos? Our hands are bound by the regulations made by people furthest away from the students. Even our language in how and what we tell parents is restricted in order to not bring on any litigation problems for the district. I think we were more effective in the days when meeting students’ needs took a brief conversation in the hallway with the specialists and voila…we found the time and resources to make it happen without the paperwork and hoops through which we had to jump. Truly child-centered.
Thank you for your post and thank you Diane for your day of reflection yesterday. I believe too that it’s not a question of more security but more caring/services.
We are schools, we are in a place to offer support where families may not be able to.
Many school programs ( that are recently being cut) across our nation teach all children the balance between social, emotional, physical and academic. They do this through team building, lunch bunches, after school enrichment, and sports.
Many are involved in this process inlcuding the parents, the principal, the social worker, the speech therapist, the OT, the guidance counselor and the school psychologist, but most importantly it’s the TEACHER who ultimately spends the most time with your child guiding, caring, sharing, modeling, processing and yes all while teaching.
How will they be able to fit this in with so much testing?
I would just want our lawmakers to realize that providing students with opportunities to explore their multiple intelligences will benefit everyone in the end. We need to proivde more time for teachers to teach and supportive services to help students shape themselves into active participants in society.
This will make the most impact in these recurrent tragedies. Helping students channel their energies into productive supportive environments that supports them in becoming involved in a community be it chess club, football, photography, hockey, booster club etc………….
This point is aboslutely correct. We have cut funding for social workers and psychologists to cut taxes and it is the “pro family” people who have done it. That message needs to get out to our general public so they will stop electing these folks to make the decisions that have led to this horrible event.
Mental health is absolutely something that needs to be addressed and given more care and resources to. I have seen too many times in our schools what limited resources and lack of parental support can do for these children that need assistance. In addition, our country has made it next to impossible for those above the age of 18 to receive mental health treatment unless they consent. If someone is truly mentally ill, chances are they are not going to concent to treatment or consent to taking the necessary medication. It is only after they have done something illegal or unthinkable that action can be taken. We need to take a hard look at the services we provide for the students in our schools as well as adults that need help. Until then, I will be praying for all of us. This is no easy feat to tackle.
We should praise this retired principal and others like them. This former principal is dead on message as to the problems. School financial problems and those of all government agencies and regular jobs are due to the financial crisis and not one government doing anything about it including Obama. Obama controls the Justice Dept. and Treasury and he has put in place those who caused the mess. You never put in charge of fixing a mess those who caused it, especially financial messes. This shows how corrupt we really are and if Romney-Ryan were to have gotten in it would be even worse. Obama is just the lesser of the two devils. We need the financial regulations which Bill Clinton signed out of existance in the 1999-2000 Banking Deregulation Acts and the end of the Free Press in the 1996 Telecommunications Act put back into place. Clinton signed the legislation which has put us into this mess and Obama has put it on steroids. As a friend of mines grandfather taught him “I hear real good, but I see a whole lot better.” People, Wake Up!