Message from the Safety Director
I am sure you are aware of the terrible incident that happened in a Connecticut elementary school on Friday December 14, 2012. Our heart hurts for these families and their community. The district will follow the incident over the next weeks and months in an attempt to understand what has happened.
The Superintendent of Schools for the Hatboro-Horsham School District wants you to know that when these incidents happen we do not look at it and say this is not us, we recognize that this could be us, and we need to always take action and be vigilant to do all we can to protect our students and staff. The district wants to assure you that we are 100 percent committed to making our schools as safe as we possibly can.
The district will follow and review this incident in Connecticut. The district plans to convene our crisis response teams to continually assess the situation and develop strategies to help support our students, faculty and staff in dealing with this tragedy.
You may have questions from you children or may want to have a conversation with you children about this incident. Below is some information you may find helpful. This information is provided by the American School Counselor Association.
Helping Kids During Crisis
http://www.schoolcounselor.org/content.asp?contentid=672
• 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.
• Parents and adults need to first deal with and assess their own responses to crisis and stress.
• Rebuild and reaffirm attachments and relationships
Please remember these families and their community in your thoughts and prayers.
Be safe,
Jeff Tomlinson
215-420-5025
Director of Safety
