An Urgent Message from Teaching Tolerance
December 16, 2012
Dear Friend of Teaching Tolerance,
When the news about the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School broke on Friday, we quickly issued someadvice for teachers heading back to school on Monday. Sadly, we had that advice ready. In the wake of last summer’s shootings at the movie theater in Aurora, Colo. and at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wis., we had decided to write a magazine article exploring ways teachers could help students cope in the aftermath of violence. We knew that, sooner or later, another national tragedy would provoke classroom questions. And we also knew that too many of our students–in cities across the country like New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis, Baltimore, Detroit, Newark and Oakland–face deadly violence in their neighborhoods.
The violence rarely happens in school, but wherever it happens, children are affected. Whether the violence is local or brought to children via the media, we know that teachers, counselors and principals stand alongside parents as the trusted adults who help children navigate the terrible news. On Friday, the violence happened in school, a place where each of you work every day and to which you will return tomorrow. Most of the victims are children, just like those you teach. Others were educators, like you, who died trying to protect their students. I’m