A Rough Beginning

As my posting frequency of the past two weeks may indicate, it's back to school time here at Central Standard. Our first day of classes was Thursday a week ago, after the freshmen had been given a day without the bother of other classes muscling them around in the hallways. Our first two days were problem-free. My classes seemed populated with good kiddos; your expected diversity of personalities and skill levels, but no glaringly tough nuts who might make life difficult for ten weeks. I left school on Friday thinking I might have a good term.

Sadly, a tragedy struck our community a week ago, as a junior at our school died in a Saturday morning traffic accident. Many emails were sent over the weekend, and all staff was called into a meeting on Monday morning to discuss our role in dealing with the needs of our students.

It was a difficult week, to say the least. However, as upset as all of us may have been about losing a child from our community (even those of us who never knew the student), most of us personally contemplated how terrible it is for a family to lose someone so unexpectedly.

Overall, I think we, as a school community, did a tremendous job in response to this awful situation. The school really legitimized the student's reactions, offered ample opportunities for students and staff to deal with their emotions, and made the transition back toward "normal" as smoothly as a community can. However, this is something that will color our entire school year, as it most likely should be. And that will make this year difficult, at times, no doubt.