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| Photo by Gianandrea Villa on Unsplash |
Wednesday’s weather was certainly a nice change to remind us that winter will not last forever. For me, that is one of the best parts of living in NJ. The change of seasons provides variety and there are benefits to each season. The beach or pool in the summer, watching a baseball or softball game on a beautiful spring afternoon, or a football or soccer game under the lights on a crisp fall Friday, or the occasional snow day – or rather sledding in the winter. If we did not experience four very distinctly different seasonal changes it would be difficult to experience all of the different activities each season brings.
Currently, the climate (unrelated to weather) is that of a collective empathy for the victims and families of the Parkland shooting. I dare say beyond empathy, there are a variety of other emotions surfacing loudly. Outrage and anger, fear and worry, pessimism and optimism are battling it out, and I would hope some happiness. Happiness for the survivors, for the stories of heroism, for the memories of those taken too soon.
I want to focus on fear and worry today. Just for a moment. I can feel these emotions loudly from our staff, our students, and our parents. In the wake of tragedies which cannot be explained or rationalized there is always a period of fear, worry, outrage, blame while the national spotlight is brightly shining on the vulnerability of a very precious resource, our kids! Sadly, historically this eventually fades after an indiscriminate amount of time. During that time we watch the news channels go 24/7 with every possible angle and element involving the horrific incident. Early on while we want to turn away to protect ourselves from a feeling of helplessness and fear but we don’t. Immediately after there is a moment where everyone is aligned with a collective determination to 'fix it’. ‘It’ being the senseless loss of life. Politicians weigh in and it inevitably boils down to ‘gun control’ or ‘2nd amendment freedoms’. I want to be clear, I am not in anyway advocating in either direction right now.
Instead, I want to point out that while the debate ensues about whether or not it is too easy to own a gun, and schools are pointed at for not being able to keep their students safe, and fingers are directed at mental illness and agencies who oversee treatment, it all builds to a pitch that forces most to finally give in and look away. This happens at different stages for each person and some (those directly effected) may never be able to look away again. Ultimately, there are always lessons learned and passed along to school officials. Please remember, school officials are parents too, we are husbands and wives and none of us want to ‘let’ anything bad happen to our communities. Remember, we are only human. We are unable to safeguard our school community alone. We work to create plans of action that are informed by law enforcement best practices and lessons learned from tragedy survivors, and from security consultants. We implement, practice, and believe our plans to be our best way to safeguard our schools. In addition, we really need all of you to work with us to help. Blame, second-guessing, rumors, gossiping, and other devicive behaviors only serve to weaken our collective resolve to prevent violence of any kind being visited on our campuses.
Let me address some of the concerns or rumors that I have heard so far while also explaining a bit about what we are currently doing to keep all of us safe. First, I hear often that something happened at one of our schools and school officials have done nothing about it. Worse yet, why haven’t they told us all about the details of the incident? To respond, we take every single report of violence seriously. Due to federal student confidentiality laws we cannot simply discuss any issue in detail or items that may impact the investigations. We have a duty to protect all students including any student accused of misbehavior. If your child is involved you will know about it. You will have all the information you need to work with us in order to assist your child.
All students are capable of making bad decisions, while it may be frustrating to not know all of the details when someone else’s child made the mistake it should also be comforting to know that if it were your child we would protect their privacy as well. We will inform the masses only when it is appropriate. As you can imagine, students sometimes say things in anger or to gain attention. We investigate these incidents thoroughly to determine the level of threat involved. We work collaboratively with the local police department and prosecutor’s office. In some cases, it is determined that a student simply made a poor decision but does not have any actual plan to harm anyone. The police will often visit the home during the investigation as well. Following the investigation a consequence may be applied which is also confidential. Sometimes you may not directly know what consequence was given and therefore want to assume ‘the school didn’t do anything’. Again I ask that you consider both sides of this coin, while you may want to know what specific consequence or punishment was given to someone else’s child you would likely not want us disclosing the outcome of incidents involving your own child. Please give us the benefit of the doubt and trust we have addressed it. If however, you still have concerns contact your school Principal.
If we work together there is little we cannot accomplish. Staff, students, and parents of MPS – we are all on the same team. If you see or hear something, report it. If you have concerns or questions please ask the school official assigned to care for your child(ren). Staff members work with the school and district administration to improve our safety procedures. This means pointing out areas for improvement but more importantly it means bringing feasible solution ideas to the table as well.
So far, our school staff and students have done an exceptional job preparing for all types of emergencies. You should all be very proud of the efficient responses to various incidents you have taught to our students.
* We are exploring adding ALICE training to our response. Feel free to research it and stay tuned for opportunities to be an early adopter in the training.
Shout-outs!
"A big Bacon shout out to Beth Rohaly and Meganne Peck for putting together the Chinese New Year parade last week. It was a great, arts-infused, multi-cultural event in which the students had fun and learned about the traditions of celebrating the Chinese New Year. Thank you ladies for all your hard work in pulling it off and getting the whole school involved."
~Mike Coyle, Principal
"A big Holly Heights shout out to Jackie Olivio. Jackie not only does an excellent job with our 2nd grade students but also serves as coordinator for our Club 21. She puts in many late nights and plans activities that keep our students actively engaged. We appreciate all of your hard work Jackie!"
~Steve Saul, Principal
"A Mount Pleasant shout out to Miriam Gandy, our super star kitchen aide. Miriam has held this job faithfully for 17 years, and has near perfect attendance. Our students have told her many times, "You make the best peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the planet". Thank you Miriam for your dedication!"
~Arlene Jenkins, Principal
"Thanks to Monica Panichelli and Kyle Drake for organizing Rieck Avenue's Jump Rope for Heart last Friday. Our students raised $2,000 for the American Heart Association. Monica and Kyle continue Rieck Avenue's culture of helping students think beyond themselves to help others. Jet Pride in action."
~Brian Robinson, Principal
"A huge shout-out to our Kindergarten, First, and Second Grade curriculum writers. This year we are creating interdisciplinary units that will remove the arbitrary divisions between teaching reading and social studies separate from one another as if they were separate bodies of knowledge. The integration of these two subjects will help students better integrate strategies from their studies into the larger world. Thank you for your hard work...Carolyn Munzenmayer, Jen Finch, Joann Cuff, Theresa Russo, Sandi Gery, Kelli Blough, Ashleigh Udalovas, Kara Lunemann, Staci Clark, Nina Crain, Jackie Olivio, Lisa Baran, Betty Lou Williams, Kim Taylor, and Kristina Messina."
~Maggie Colina, Supervisor
"John Bunting is a very dedicated guidance counselor at Lakeside Middle School. He is very flexible with our needs during the school day and is always willing to volunteer to help. He makes sure that students have breakfast, meets with students individually and in groups."
"Dena Andrews recently performed at Carnegie Hall with her signing group Continuo Arts Foundation."
~Spike Cook, Principal
Regards,
Have an amazing weekend!
Dr. G.
Dr. David N. Gentile
Superintendent of Schools
“Lead Learner”
@drgentile_mps (Twitter)
856-327-6001
#MPSWC (MPS World Class)
#greatdaytobeabolt
Published by Spike Cook, Millville, NJ
