Tragedy a Tough Class to Teach

This piece originally appeared in the May 5, 2013, edition of the Boston Herald.

This week in Valley Springs, Calif., families locked themselves inside to stay safe during the ongoing manhunt for the murderer of 8-year-old Leila Fowler. Just a few weeks ago the entire Boston metro area shut down as police and federal agents searched for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the marathon bombing suspect.

After these days of tragedy and suspense end, children must go back to learning. Learning cannot simply be put on hold in the face of trauma — if it is terrorists and murderers win by exacting their damage on the future. As kids head back to schools, schools face the dilemma of providing support to their students.

In Valley Springs, an insular community with sufficient resources, Leila’s school was able to provide the additional support of 10 counselors and two therapy dogs. However, most school systems cannot afford such expensive supports, leaving the healing and psychological processing to a limited number of mental health workers and the school staff.

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