Like most of you, I was deeply saddened by the news yesterday regarding a mass school shooting in Newtown, CT at Sandy Hook Elementary School. It was beyond shocking to hear about the number of people killed and to later find out that most of the fatalities were children in grades K-4. Tears streamed down my face as President Obama addressed the nation and was clearly just as overwhelmed as we all were regarding this tragedy.
Now we're hearing about the heroic stories of the victims, teachers and administrators, who risked their lives to save their students....who unfortunately did not all make it out alive. Among them was our fellow colleague, Mary Sherlach, a School Psychologist who had worked in Connecticut school systems for over 20 years. Mrs. Sherlach rushed into the halls when the shooting started during an administrative meeting and didn't come back. She leaves behind a husband and 2 daughters.
While many of us will never encounter the horror of an armed assailant entering the schools we work in, we do have the capacity to affect change to help prevent these acts of violence. The discussion I heard today throughout the media was the need for better gun control and also an emphasis on mental health. As School Psychologists, we have the ability to shed light on these issues and create positive change in our schools. My colleague mentioned that more of us need to build our expertise beyond testing and I absolutely agree. The benefit of having a degree in this field and that we are multi-faceted. Our profession is not grounded in testing and RTI, we have a duty to serve our students, to help our administrators create a safer school environment, and to support our community. If anything positive came out of these events is that I am more inspired than ever to be a catalyst for change in whatever district I work in.
This was the worst school shooting in history, surpassing Columbine's numbers in 1999 of 14 students (including the shooters) and one teacher killed. As this community slowly begins to pick up the pieces, I hope that the issues surrounding it are not swept under the rug. Mass shootings are becoming an all too common news topic and this needs to change. Yesterday, I called my little brother to make sure he was OK and had made it home from school, he told me he was fine and said 'Kim, that happened in Connecticut...I'm good' and I think that's what is so scary. This could have happened ANYWHERE. What can we do in our communities so that this doesn't happen at all? You can be sure Monday morning in school districts across the nation, Crisis Management and Threat Assessment will be a the main topic.
I tweeted yesterday that 'As a future School Psychologist, I don't even know where I'd begin to help these children cope' and today I still feel the same. At this point no one has the answers but I hope that we can come together, no matter what our beliefs are, and work to find a solution that will protect our children AND our educators. My father questioned my decision to go into this profession as we were watching the news together on the phone, I honestly never thought going into the field of education would bring about such a question. I wish you all the best in this time of grief and sadness and whoever or whatever you pray to, send your thoughts to Newtown in their time of need.
CNN Article on School Psychologist- Mary Sherlach
