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Monday, April 22, 2013

Boston Schools Reopen After Vacation Marked By Marathon Bombing, Manhunt

Boston Schools Reopen After Vacation Marked By Marathon Bombing, Manhunt:


Boston Schools Reopen After Vacation Marked By Marathon Bombing, Manhunt

After a week of April vacation bookended by a tragic marathon bombing and a manhunt that killed one suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and brought the other, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, into custody, Monday marks a return to class for students of Boston Public Schools.

While the district is focused on helping students cope and carry on, some teachers wonder if and how students in Boston's tougher neighborhoods will distinguish the bombing from what they see as the regular thrum of gun violence in their neighborhoods.

Across the 55,000-student school district, BPS spokesperson Lee McGuire said, schools are prepared to help students cope. "We have 60 … staff who are school psychologists and social workers," he said in an email. "Additionally we will have the support of 250 community mental health clinicians." Schools were entirely shut down Friday as law enforcement searched for the second suspect and Boston remained on lockdown.

Superintendent Carol Johnson told families on a conference call Sunday evening that some schools might mark