I remember Columbine. It happened over our school’s spring break, and when we all returned to the building there was a level of tension in the hallways that I don’t believe has ever left. At the time, we thought it was isolated to these two individuals and that we were safe. A terrible tragedy, but a once in a lifetime occurrence. Yet I have since watched the transition from fire drills to lockdown drills as a student, as a teacher, and eventually as a school and district leader. Quickly, the grief and disbelief around what happened in Littleton became part of our narrative in schools as we bore witness to mass shootings at Virginia Tech, Sandy Hook, and Parkland. And now Uvalde. I have held back tears walking into school buildings after these events, looking in the eyes of my students and colleagues and knowing their fear.
Yet despite our own trepidations and confusion, these are moments when our leaders are needed the most. A leader’s role is to be the steady hand at the wheel in moments of crisis. We often have to push our feelings aside and show empathy and compassion for others first. It is necessary, and it is what we signed up for. We must take the time to listen to and support our students, our teachers, and our families. Above all, we should be flexible, remind stakeholders that we are prepared, and audit safety protocols.
Be flexible: Offer Support and Resources Without a Deadline
Today I remain heartbroken and shaken. It’s hard to find words to express my grief and that’s OK. As leaders, we often push out formulaic statements or reactions to events because it is what we were trained to do, but it’s not enough. Before communicating, we should think about what our students and staff need in the moment and provide the time and space to prioritize those needs. Leaders should consider blocking off time to be available to sit with and listen to staff. Calling an emergency meeting in the morning to review support structures and protocols with staff is helpful, but let’s also take a moment of silence and be there for each other.
The school shooting in Uvalde will hit each of us differently and at different times. Leaders should engage counselors and social workers in providing space for both students and staff to drop in for support. And they should be flexible about how long this resource is made available. If your team is not equipped to talk with students about grief, consider bringing in a consultant to support your community. Sending the message that it’s OK to want to talk about it and it’s OK to not want to talk about it ensures that we’re offering support while also respecting preferences. Leaders should provide optional support and free up counselors throughout the day and week. It might take some of our students and staff time to process and we need to honor that.
Remind Students, Teachers, and Families That You Are Prepared
Schools have a process for addressing traumatic events and emergency protocols to navigate these events in the moment. We have crisis teams, counselors and social workers, and mandated drills to prepare our students and staff for moments that we hope and pray will never occur in our own communities.
It is important for teachers and families to hear about the systems in place and the frequency with which we review and fine-tune our approach to school safety. Leaders should offer time to engage in school safety discussions and talk through concerns. This should be done carefully, with your crisis teams leading these discussions to ensure that they are productive, calming, and within the scope of what can be shared. One way to prepare for these discussions is to navigate a safety readiness tool to support schools in a school safety self-assessment. Leadership teams can access any of the following resources to audit their approach to school safety, or find an equivalent or supplemental resource in their home state:
- The National Center on Safe and Supportive Learning Environments: Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the center offers research, toolkits, and professional learning opportunities for school and district leaders.
- SchoolSafety.gov: This federal website includes a readiness tool, research and resources, and a grant finder to support schools and districts in identifying funding opportunities to improve school safety.
- Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools: This technical service center offers ample training opportunities, guidelines and best practices for schools, and archived webinars.
While these are not new resources, they are free to use and can support ongoing efforts by schools and districts to maintain safety and response structures that align with the latest research. Crisis teams are often charged with reviewing their emergency response plans annually and ensuring that all members of the crisis team are current on protocols and interventions. We are prepared, but in moments of crisis our stakeholders need to be reminded of the systems in place.
We have a responsibility to create safe, positive learning environments in which all students can thrive.
Stephanie Burroughs
Take a Safe and Supportive Schools Audit
If our students are in an environment where they do not feel safe, they cannot learn. Often when we think about responding to moments of crisis, we talk about tangible actions like providing students the predictability of a normal school day, reminding students that they should not be propping open doors, and making our students aware of the process for reporting a safety concern. Of course, they need us to take these actions, but we also need to be proactive by embedding social-emotional learning into our academic program.
In fact, all learning is social-emotional learning, and when we focus on improving our schools through SEL, we prioritize achievement and mental health. Leaders should consider the following questions and build consensus on how to address areas of improvement:
- Can your students identify an adult in the building that they trust? In a 2015 Gallup poll, only 39 percent of one million students surveyed could identify an adult in the school building that cares about them. We need to ask this question of our students and take action based on the data. Student connectedness to their community is directly tied to their academic success and mental health. According to the CDC, student connectedness prevents incidences of negative mental health, violence, substance abuse, and self-harm. School and district leaders should be looking at the guidelines provided by the CDC to increase opportunities for student connectedness in school. Relationships matter.
- Do our students know what to do when they need help? CASEL’s framework identifies five key competencies for improving students’ social-emotional well-being. Within this framework, self-advocacy can be viewed as a classroom skill where students are encouraged to seek feedback and ask questions to engage in their learning. When we think about supporting the whole child, we need to ensure that self-advocacy is not an isolated skill in the classroom—that students can advocate for themselves outside of the classroom, too. CASEL’s guide to schoolwide SEL is a great resource to get started with whole-school planning that builds SEL competencies within the classroom and our greater school community.
- Think of all the students enrolled in your school. Can you identify when any one of your students is having a bad day? Make time in the school day to sit with grade-level teams and school counselors to better know and understand your students. We have to know our students. Our job is not just to teach our subject, because we cannot teach our students without first building relationships. Leaders should encourage these discussions and support teacher teams by providing time to have these discussions. Planning for team or grade-level meetings within the weekly schedule will ensure that these conversations are prioritized and a part of the collaborative culture in our schools. We need to help teachers help kids.
- Do we have multi-tiered systems of support for academics and behaviors? Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) are often designed for academic reasons, but they can and should be behavior-based, too. In their simplest form, they are teams of teachers looking at data to identify struggling students and support those students through targeted academic and/or behavioral interventions. These systems are critical if we are to support the well-being and success of all kids. Leaders need to provide training and prioritize building high-functioning MTSS structures in their schools. You don’t have to do it alone: Organizations like Panorama Education have MTSS guidance, data analysis tools, and tangible examples of success for schools and districts to pull from.
- Are there opportunities for students to voice their concerns and engage in improving their school community? Student agency, which is defined as student voice and choice, gives our young minds the opportunity to take ownership in their learning. We should be listening to our students and supporting them in exercising their voice. Our schools have done their job when we send students out into the world that have the confidence to engage with their peers and effect change. Leaders should think about ways they can support students in speaking up and speaking out to collectively improve their school community.
The Road Ahead
We cannot move past this moment, but we can move through it. As leaders, we must take pause and ensure that all students, staff, and families feel safe and supported. We must also look to our programs and make sure we are creating an environment that focuses on the whole child and supports our students socially and emotionally. We have a responsibility to create safe, positive learning environments in which all students can thrive. We have to show our communities that we are prepared, and we have to show our students that they matter through our actions.
Read ASCD’s statement on the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, and find selected resources for teachers and leaders.
Read ASCD’s statement on the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas, and find selected resources for teachers and leaders.
