SAMPLE COMMUNICATIONS
RESPONDING TO THE TRAGEDY AT THE COVENANT SCHOOL
Dear Parents,
Today was a senseless tragedy. It cuts deeper as we are so closely connected on many fronts with friends and family at Covenant. We strive every day to make Harding Academy as safe a learning environment as possible from an ever evolving campus master security plan to regular intervals of training, our Director of Security, Chuck Carter, works tirelessly to keep us all safe. Some of those steps (and others best left to our internal understandings) include:
The Director of Security does proactive patrol to ensure the safety of everyone on campus. He averages seven miles a day walking our campus.
A visitor management system that all persons are required to sign in upon arrival at the school.
All exterior doors are locked at all times.
All faculty/staff receive active shooter training annually in August through Defend Systems. We focus on preventive measures as well as self defense and trauma treatment.
Trauma kits and AED's are stationed around campus for quick access in case of an emergency.
We conduct a minimum of two active shooter drills each academic year. Personnel have a strict 20 second time limit to secure their classrooms and offices.
We use the Ruvna app, radios, phones, and the intercom system to communicate rapidly internally.
As pressing in your minds, no doubt, is what tomorrow will look like for your children. I am sharing with you all our plans for engaging children at a developmentally appropriate level tomorrow regarding today’s events. As Aubrey Sapp and Jordan Yates, our school counselors, write below, we hope and expect that many of these first conversations will take place tonight at home. We also know that children cope best when routine and regularity are the norm and most often that means being at school. However, we recognize the scope and impact of this tragedy is likely to come up in class and that families have shared varying levels of information about what has happened. In an effort to provide as much information as possible for you to know what that will look like, Aubrey and Jordan have outlined the document below (on next slide), which has been shared with our teachers tonight. Please know that if you would prefer to keep your child at home tomorrow, we will fully support that.
We are surrounding all of those affected with love and support to the extent that we are able. Often in these times we want to know what we can DO. As we learn more about how we might specifically support the students, families, teachers, and staff at Covenant, we will be sure to communicate that to you promptly. You can expect more information from me tomorrow. For tonight, please hug your family. I know I will.
Sincerely,
Dave Skeen
From Harding Academy in Nashville
Dear Faculty and Staff
Today’s tragedy is not something we can process in a short amount of time. We will all need time to grieve, process, and heal. We want to ensure that everyone knows that you and our students have a safe place here at Harding Academy to do that. If you or your student(s) need a place away from the classroom at any time tomorrow or in the coming days please let us or your division director know. We will have open spaces throughout the school. We have provided some resources below if and when discussions arrive in your classroom.
As Dave stated in his email earlier today to families, we have notified families of our lower school students that it is always in the child’s best interest for families to initiate these conversations. We hope and expect that many of these conversations will take place tonight at home. Within our classrooms and in our school spaces, we are here to support our students in whatever ways they need. There may be a spectrum of understanding and knowledge of the tragedy which occurred today within our PreK through third grade classrooms. We presume that students in fourth grade through eighth grade will have a greater understanding and more questions. Please know this is guidance and a framework for how to address your class, however, we trust your expertise and knowledge of your students and how to navigate these conversations with your students.
We have all been affected by this tragedy, some in more direct ways than others. Remember, we are not here to solve a student’s feelings in any way, however, we can be there to sit with a student’s feelings. Please give yourself and everyone in our community grace at this time.
We are here to support you, our students and families.
Sincerely,
Aubrey Sapp and Jordan Yates
PreK-Kindergarten
In keeping with developmental consideration, we suggest teachers not have a class meeting to explicitly address the tragedy or details surrounding the events.
Our responses and message to students (if brought up) will be to reiterate that we are safe and redirect any conversations or questions into a more private setting. It is also important to let the student know that the adults in their classroom, Mrs. Yates, and parents are all there to support them and listen to their thoughts and feelings.
If it seems that a particular student is having difficulty managing feelings or asking specific questions, please let them know that you will help them find a time to talk with Mrs. Yates or Mrs. Sapp so they can have that space to talk and find a way to bring those questions home to their parents as well.
Please know it is okay to not answer every question that is asked, and to tell a student you do not have all the answers.
Start with what you do know. We know that we are safe. We know that there are people at Harding that care about you. We know that Officer Carter
is here to protect us and our teachers are trained to keep us safe.
(Continued on next slide)
From Harding Academy in Nashville
1st - 2nd
Having a class meeting is at the homeroom teachers’ discretion. This class meeting should occur first thing in the morning when students are settled after arrival.
You could start the meeting by saying “Some of you may have heard about the tragedy that occurred at another school yesterday. Everyone in this class might experience a wide range of feelings, all of which are normal and okay. You might also have many questions. If you do have questions, you can ask me (your teacher) privately or talk to Mrs. Yates or Mrs. Sapp or an adult at home. The most important thing I want you to know is that you are safe. There are people at Harding that care about you. We know that Officer Carter is here to protect us and our teachers are trained to keep us safe.”
If a student asks you directly about a question, keep it factual and brief. Bring the conversation back to the message that we are safe and there are a lot of adults who care about you at Harding.
To validate student feelings and ensure they know you heard them, you can say “I hear that you are feeling sad/mad/confused/etc. And that makes sense and is OK to feel. Remember that there are trusted adults here to support you through those feelings.” *Please remember that we cannot “fix” or “solve” a student’s feelings, but we can sit with them in those feelings and let them know that they are not alone and we hear them.
3rd
Third grade teachers will have a class meeting in their homeroom. This class meeting should occur first thing in the morning when students are settled after arrival.
You could start the meeting by saying “Some of you may have heard about the tragedy that occurred at another school yesterday. Everyone in this class might experience a wide range of feelings, all of which are normal and okay. You might also have many questions. If you do have questions, you can ask me (your teacher) privately or talk to Mrs. Yates or Mrs. Sapp or an adult at home. The most important thing I want you to know is that you are safe. There are people at Harding that care about you. We know that Officer Carter is here to protect us and our teachers are trained to keep us safe.”
If a student asks you directly about a question, keep it factual and brief. Bring the conversation back to the message that we are safe and there are a lot of adults who care about you at Harding. With third grade, there may be more questions and wanting to share personal stories amongst the class, however please acknowledge and validate student feelings while also letting students know that there are adults to provide that further time and space for each individual.
To validate student feelings and ensure they know you heard them, you can say “I hear that you are feeling sad/mad/confused/etc. And that makes sense and is OK to feel. Remember that there are trusted adults here to support you through those feelings.” *Please remember that we cannot “fix” or “solve” a student’s feelings, but we can sit with them in those feelings and let them know that they are not alone and we hear them.
(Continued on next slide)
From Harding Academy in Nashville
4th - 5th
Fourth and Fifth grade teachers will have a class meeting with their homeroom. This class meeting should occur first thing in the morning when students are settled after arrival.
You could start the meeting by saying “Many of you may have heard about the tragedy that occurred at another school yesterday. Everyone in this class might experience a wide range of feelings, all of which are normal and okay. You might also have many questions.”
“The most important thing I want you to know is that you are safe. There are people at Harding that care about you. We know that Officer Carter is here to protect us and our teachers are trained to keep us safe. There are other adults whom you can speak with, including Mrs. Sapp and Mrs. Yates if you have questions or feelings you would like to address.”
Create a space for conversation and student questions. Start by asking them what they know (or think they know) first. They're likely to need help thinking through potential misconceptions about what's happened. In many cases, students may need reminders to not jump to conclusions because not all of the facts may be available yet.
If a student asks you directly about a question, keep it factual and brief. Bring the conversation back to the message that we are safe and there are a lot of adults who care about you at Harding. With fourth & fifth grade, there may be more questions and wanting to share personal stories amongst the class, however please acknowledge and validate student feelings while also letting students know that there are adults to provide that further time and space for each individual.
6th - 8th
Middle School students will have a class meeting in their advisory group from 8:00 AM to 8:15 AM in the morning.
Create a space for conversation and student questions. They're likely to need help thinking through potential misconceptions about what's happened. In many cases, students may need reminders to not jump to conclusions because not all of the facts may be available yet.
Show students what curiosity and good critical thinking look like. For teachers, it's okay to not have all the answers as long as we model that we're curious and actively seeking out factual information. Redirect questions to factual information and feelings (“I hear that you’re feeling angry/upset/confused/xyz about …”) while modeling how to be respectful of others’ feelings.
Reiterate steps we take for safety, including drills, knowing who our trusted adults are both in and outside of school, as well as being mindful of the way in which we access and interact with news and events on social media.
“The most important thing I want you to know is that you are safe. There are people at Harding that care about you. We know that Officer Carter
is here to protect us and our teachers are trained to keep us safe. There are other adults whom you can speak with, including Mrs. Sapp and Mrs. Yates
if you have questions or feelings you would like to address.”
From Harding Academy in Nashville
Harding Community,
Our Director of Security Chuck Carter was informed this morning of an active shooter situation at The Covenant School in Nashville,TN. We are emailing you now to let you know that we are safe. Mr. Carter has been in contact with MNPD and has confirmed that we do NOT need to put the school on lockdown. We will stay in touch as the situation develops. We understand that this is a tragic situation and if you would like to pick up your child, please contact your division director and all absences will be excused.
There is no imminent threat to our Harding community. Our school counselors Aubrey Sapp and Jordan Yates are available for all students, faculty, and families. Please see the resources below for ways to talk with and support your child, as well as resources for adults. If you need additional support please email Jordan at email@hardingacademy.us or Aubrey at email@hardingacademy.us.
For our lower school students, we believe these topics are best discussed with their parents. For our middle school students, we believe this is best initiated by parents, however we understand that outside information can be accessed easily by our older students. We will offer emotional support and speak to the facts we know, while encouraging our students to have further conversations at home with their parents.
We all are keeping The Covenant School in our thoughts and will continue to communicate any updates we have with you.
Sincerely,
Dave Skeen
Tips from ASCA (American School Counseling Association)
Helping Students After a School Shooting
Try and keep routines as normal as possible. Kids gain security from the predictability of routine, including attending school.
Limit exposure to television and the news.
Be honest with kids and share with them as much information as they are developmentally able to handle.
Listen to kids’ fears and concerns.
Reassure kids that the world is a good place to be, but that there are people who do bad things.
Families and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.
Rebuild and reaffirm attachments and relationships.
From Harding Academy in Nashville
Dear Faculty and Staff,
Below you will find an excellent set of resources and guidance from Aubrey and Jordan as to how we can engage the students tomorrow. I wanted to send a few thoughts along with this writing - some logistical, others philosophical. (see resources on previous slides in this deck)
First, we will have a Thursday schedule tomorrow, pushing Tuesday and assembly back in the week to give us some time to understand where our community is before we all assemble together.
Second, this is going to be hard. There is no rule book on how to correctly move forward after something like this and we are all torn on how to best care for ourselves or our kids. There is no right answer and you will be supported in whatever choice is right for you. We will support each other on this journey, so know that your students will be cared for by familiar faces who care for them deeply if you decide you need tomorrow to process this tragedy. Give yourself, your colleagues, our families, and our students grace during this time that we are all on our own paths as we each need time and space.
Third, I want to reiterate that as hard as it feels you all are master educators and can get through this. You will do what is best for our students because you always do. If there is anything at all you need, please reach out.
Thank you,
Dave
From Harding Academy in Nashville
Dear Harding Academy Learning Community,
In some ways today feels harder than yesterday. This morning, Jay Codispoti and I were talking about hook up and just how different a picture we each have from our respective perches. Jay greets families as they drive past the blue barrel and settle into a drop off box. The children were, for the most part, acting in a fairly typical way as they arrived, opened doors, and headed to class. For me, most of my morning was spent waving to parents who had offloaded their children. Yesterday, parents were blissfully unaware of what was to occur just a couple of hours later. Today, we were all too aware, and I could see it on your faces. But you came, you dropped off your most precious children to us and offered them a “normal” experience of school - with their friends, with their teachers - that three beautiful children and three caring adults don’t have today. Call it an act of normalcy or an act of bravery - I’m just so thankful we have it.
I pledge to you: we will care for your children, protect them, and keep them as safe as we possibly can. Overall, the kids are engaging in school activities as planned. They are playing on the playground, they are working on their art projects, they are anticipating quizzes and tests and practices. Our counselors are keeping a watchful eye on everyone, and school is happening and it is good. Meanwhile, our faculty and staff, who live on the thin line of having to be present and caring for kids while trying to care for themselves, are making herculean efforts to shepherd our children between the normalcy of the day and the emotions we are all feeling. I am honored to work alongside such a devoted group of educators of whom you should be proud. If you have a moment to let them know - it will mean the world to them.
I know we are all eager to support The Covenant School community in any way we can. As we wait to know specifics, I wanted to share a fund that has been established at the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee from which all proceeds will go directly to those affected by this tragedy. As we learn more ways in which we can be helpful, I will be sure to share with you all.
Finally, several families have inquired whether we should do more, can we do more, and I ask you now to trust that we are investigating every possible avenue and continuing to devote an extraordinary amount of time and resources to the safety of our community. Lt. Carter and the Leadership Team of the school are working behind the scenes to analyze what we know from the tragic events at Covenant yesterday. We are stress testing our current security infrastructure and protocols against this scenario, and while we are confident in how we would perform, we are planning for how we might further enhance our already robust and comprehensive approach to school safety. I mentioned many of those systems and protocols last night, and as we move forward and add more layers, I will be sure to follow up with those as we are able to share.
Thank you all for your support of Harding Academy.
From Harding Academy in Nashville
To the Princeton Day School Community,��I stood in the front hallway yesterday, as I do each day, listening to the happy cacophony of students and faculty returning after a couple of weeks away from their daily labors. The energy in the building rose through the day, and, as the sun poked through and temperatures climbed into the 60s, the entire school poured from the building for a long-scheduled fire drill. We were in and out in record time.��As we basked in the sun for those few minutes, hundreds of miles away another school emptied, as students and faculty fled the danger within their building. Just a week ago, a Colorado school was forced to follow that same, sorrowful ritual. The national plague of guns and the senseless violence they deliver to the innocent and unaware continues, as those whom we have chosen to speak and act on our behalf - and whose power and authority is more than sufficient to extinguish this blight - turn away, bow their heads, and mutter platitudes. Truly, every aspect of these tragedies is shameful.��Among the many promises our school has made to you, your children, and our faculty, none is more important than the promise to keep them safe and far from harm. Needing no reminder of the importance of that promise, we are reminded nonetheless, as was the case yesterday. In the last decade, Princeton Day School has secured its school buildings and doors, expanded the cadre of trained professionals - several of whom, including Security Director Rob Toole and his colleague Mike Cifelli - joined us directly from the Princeton Police Department. Each moment of every day, the scores of cameras that scan our buildings - including the Princeton Day School Athletic Center - are monitored for activity across the breadth of our campus. For more than a decade, we have studied and practiced safety protocols and crisis management. That our rehearsing these scenarios takes time away from the happier pursuits for which our school is known is a great sadness; still, it is a small concession in pursuit of that most important goal: keeping our children safe.�(continued on next slide)�
From Princeton Day School, NJ (nonmember school)
(continued from previous slide)
Just as the COVID cloud descended on us three years ago, Princeton Day School had embarked on a comprehensive, school-wide risk management process, employing the resources of an international consulting firm, Arthur J. Gallager. Having resumed that work early in 2021, this process - chaired by Assistant Head of Finance and Operations Dulany Gibson and Chief Information Officer Jon Ostendorf - has as its goal identifying and remediating risks within the school. Covering items as far flung as carpool, campus rentals, and athletics, it is also focused squarely and unflinchingly on those elements of the campus, its building, and school practice that make us less safe than we must be. The faculty, staff, and trustees have been - and are - deeply invested in this campus-wide analysis and committed to finding and funding effective responses. ��As circumstances have frequently required in the last decade, I close this letter with resources designed to help you and your children address the emotional and psychological toll the tragedies take. I hope you find some comfort in direction in the wise words to be found herein. I will also encourage you to reach out to support staff across the school: your child's classroom or homeroom teacher, advisor, or division head; and, of course, to draw on the experience and support of members of our counseling staff in all three divisions. Here, too, you will find comfort, understanding, and a way forward in a troubled time.��Thank you for taking time to read these thoughts on a gray day. Thank you for entrusting your children to our care.��Sincerely and Respectfully,
Paul J. Stellato
From Princeton Day School, NJ (nonmember school)
Title: Campus Safety
Dear Augusta Prep Families,
The most recent school shooting in Nashville has once again left us all sad, angry, dismayed, and baffled. I can imagine some of you may have sent your children off to school with some trepidation this morning. We are ever mindful that you trust us with your most treasured possession(s), and I want to assure you that our Board Risk Management Committee and School Safety Committee are continually evaluating risks on campus and adjusting procedures. Their work has led to the campus security upgrades in our most recent strategic plan that we implemented starting in 2021. We will continue to reassess campus security and safety each day, week, month, and year.
Your children, depending on age, may or may not know about yesterday’s events or others. Please know our counselors are always here to help you and your students in such moments. If you want some resources to help you at home, our counselors have suggested these:
· Anxiety Over School Shootings Child Mind Institute
· Coping with Current Events: How to Talk to Kids About Upsetting News Children’s Hospital of Colorado
· Explaining the News to Our Kids Common Sense Media
· Helping Children and Teens Cope with Stressful Public Events Caring for Kids
· Helping Kids Cope With Anxiety Over Distressing News Seattle Children’s Hospital
· Helping Students After a School Shooting American School Counselor Association
· How Children Cope With Ongoing Threat and Trauma: The BASIC Ph Model National Association of School Psychologists
· How to talk to children about shootings: An age-by-age guide Today
· Parent Guidelines for Helping Youth After a School Shooting National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Continued on next slide.
From Augusta Prep in GA
Continued from previous slide
Should you want to talk to one of our school counselors, please contact:
Dr. Kara Deaner for Lower School and Grades 5-6 at email@augustaprep.org
Dr. Chris Baxter for Grades 7-8 and Upper School at email@augustaprep.org
As a small school, the most important aspect of our safety posture is knowing our kids and knowing who belongs on campus. As construction progresses, we will have a continual flow of new workers on campus. They should have no interaction with our faculty and students. To ensure safety, the general contractor is performing background checks on all construction workers. If you have any safety concerns, please reach out to your respective Division Head or me.
If the concern is urgent, you may contact our Campus Duty Phone. We have had the duty phone for a few years for faculty use, and it was introduced with the phrase “See Something, Say Something. When in doubt, reach out!” We invite parents to also use this campus duty phone number to reach one of our administrators on duty 7AM Monday-7PM Friday at 706-294-xxxx. On weekends you can call 704-307-xxxx. We shared this information with you a few months ago, and felt it was a good time to do so again.
From Augusta Prep in GA