Connecticut Elementary School Shooting

[gaggedLouise]

@Uprising: I see, but that's an outrageous condition!

[Branwen]

Pointless Digression and other teachers reading this, be prepared to talk about it today or this week in a faculty meeting.  Last night every school board around here that met had school safety as their number one agenda item.  Likely your principals and school police officers received directives to review their campus' safety plan and speak with the staff about it.  I want you to be aware that this meeting is likely to happen, it's likely to be emotional and it's likely to bring to mind some horrific mental pictures for you.  It could also be scary as people point out gaps in your building's access security.  Pointing out a problem doesn't mean it's going to happen.  It just represents an opportunity to fix the problem.

Remember, you're a person and have the right to feel however you do.  If you can model calm and empathy and support for your peers, please do so.  They need it.  If you are the one who needs calming and reassurance, please seek it.  You need it.  And don't be reluctant to walk out if you're going to lose it and don't want anyone other than your closest school friends to know.  There's no shame, there's no wrong in being you.

[Oniya]

Has it always been like that, or just recently?

Well, we moved into this district this year.  Her last school didn't have it, but we were out in the middle of nowhere - like, cows and cornfields on the way to school nowhere.  They seem to have the system down pat, so it's obviously been in place for at least a few years.  When I was in high school, there was a light chain fence around the school grounds (but there was a place in the back where the chain had been separated from the frame work), and my sister's high school had a 'problem' of kids sneaking off school property at lunch to go to the McDonalds across the divided four-lane.  In intermediate and elementary school, we didn't even really have fences, except to mark the ends of the parking lots.

[Teo Torriatte]

I still really don't know what to say about this... I just wish they wouldn't tell us his name or show his picture. I don't think he should get any recognition whatsoever. It should all about the victims.

[Ryven]

Ignoring him wont make the problem go away.  I wish he wouldn't be immortalized because of the way the media portrays him, but I think he should be examined in order to understand and prevent future incidents.  Yes, he committed a horrible act, but turning a blind eye to him doesn't solve anything.  You don't have to be happy, and you certainly don't have to like him.  I'm hoping that from this at least some good can come so the victims didn't die without meaning.  If changes do come, I am truly sad that anyone had to be hurt or killed for it to happen.  It's sad that we can never really see that something is truly wrong until something like this happens then we are reminded that we are all imperfect human beings (at least I hope we are).  It's not the fact that we are imperfect that is the problem though.  Instead, the problem is our ability to cope with our imperfections both personally and socially.  That is where we need change.

[Manoir]

It should all about the victims.

So true, Luna,and let this also keep in our minds the large picture:

Remember All the Children, Mr. President
Tue, 12/18/2012 - 14:22 — by Bill Quigley

Remember the 20 children who died in Newtown Connecticut.

Remember the 35 children who died in Gaza this month from Israeli bombardments.

Remember the 168 children who have been killed by US drone attacks in Pakistan since 2006.

Remember the 231 children killed in Afghanistan in the first 6 months of this year.

Remember the 400 other children in the US under the age of 15 who die from gunshot wounds each year.

Remember the 921 children killed by US air strikes against insurgents in Iraq.

Remember the 1,770 US children who die each year from child abuse and maltreatment.

Remember the 16,000 children who die each day around the world from hunger.

These tragedies must end.

Bill Quigley is a human rights lawyer and law professor at Loyola University New Orleans and Associate Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

[Trieste]

I have removed a post a reply dragging religion into this discussion. I'd like the politics (gun control discussion) to stop too, please. Start another thread in PROC if that is what you want.

Thank you.

[Pointless Digression]

Following up, my kids seem to be having an easier time dealing with this than I am. Ahhh, youth. So far, the biggest thing they're worried about is whether or not the world is going to end tomorrow. I told them that in the event of an apocalypse, they will still have to turn in their homework before the seas boil.

[Star Safyre]

Following up, my kids seem to be having an easier time dealing with this than I am. Ahhh, youth. So far, the biggest thing they're worried about is whether or not the world is going to end tomorrow. I told them that in the event of an apocalypse, they will still have to turn in their homework before the seas boil.

My students are reacting similiarly.  A few complained that the week before the end of the world was final exams week.  ::)

[Oniya]

My students are reacting similiarly.  A few complained that the week before the end of the world was final exams week.  ::)

Good grades will be required to participate in the Rapture!

[Ariel]

The victims and their families are still in my thoughts and prayers everyday. Lord, how I tear up everytime I think of this. It breaks my heart. It kills a part of my soul everytime something as atrocious as this happens, and the fact that it could happen to any one of us is a rude awakening. It's impossible to achieve world peace, but if I had just one wish..