Violence in Connecticut

I am appalled by the shooting in an elementary school that has left so many dead.  My guts wrench for the families of those that were lost and wounded.  I cannot imagine a worse feeling than to discover your child, your spouse, your loved one went to school and got shot.

Schools are supposed to be safe places.  The adults here are charged with so much more than teaching.  We are charged with ensuring the safety of the children we are with each day.  Just as in Columbine I believe we will learn that some staff members were lost protecting kids.  That’s what we do.

Here is what we do not do.  We do not invite violence into our schools.  We do not invite weapons into our schools.  We do not invite deranged people into our schools.  I keep hearing the phrase “school violence” as though the school owns the violence.  We do not own it.  We reject it.  It is violence that comes to the school.  It is violence from the community that comes into the school.  And sometimes it is violence that is brought into the school by one of our own as in Columbine and Virginia Tech.

Frankly, there is no way to make our kids 100% safe from such a risk.  You know that.  Just as you and I know that all the security at airports is still not a guarantee.  Just as you and I know that malls will not be able to do much after the recent mall shootings.  We can do much, however.  We can drill and practice.  We can continue to monitor those who enter our buildings.  We can implement some technologies to assist us in that effort.  But it will not be enough for some school somewhere else.

I pray for the school people and parents and all those touched by the violence that entered an elementary school in Newton, Connecticut.  That violence walked in the door to what was a wonderful, safe place just minutes before.

Help us keep violence out of the schools.