Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Newtown Tragedy

On December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Peter Lanza fatally shot twenty children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Connecticut. Before driving to the school, he had killed his mother, Nancy Lanza, at their nearby Newtown home.After shooting the students and staff members, he committed suicide. The massacre was the second-deadliest school shooting in United States history, after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre; it was the second-deadliest mass murder at an American elementary school, after the Bath School bombings of 1927. The Newtown tragedy makes me reflect on the role of administrators, educators and related school professionals. In many ways, we are "gatekeepers" of issues that may become evident from our daily interactions with students and their families. Despite the lack of resources that may be available at school sites or in particular Districts, there are definite behaviors that may alert our professional sensibilities and demand our immediate attention and proactive responses to prevent potential tragedies from occurring on our campuses. Those twenty precious children and six adults represent ALL OF US! Let us continue to keep their families in our thoughts and prayers.