Ware Public Schools responds to school shootings
By Melissa Fales
Reporter
WARE – The Dec. 19 meeting of the Ware School Committee began with a moment of silence for the victims of the shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Daniel Somes, principal of Stanley M. Koziol Elementary School, offered the committee a full report on how the district’s administrative team responded to the tragedy. He said students were not made aware of the incident during school on Friday. Over the weekend, the administrative team engaged in conversations and email communication, culminating in a Connect-Ed message that was forwarded to all parents and guardians Sunday evening.
Chairman Christopher Desjardins applauded the efforts of the administrative team, saying that when he spoke with Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Beach over the weekend, the team already had a plan in place for how to manage the aftermath of the tragedy.
According to Somes, on Monday morning all three district schools were prepared to offer students help with processing their thoughts and emotions about the events in Newtown. However, he said few students reached out for that level of support. Somes shared that attendance on Monday was at 94 percent at Ware Junior Senior High School, 91 percent at Ware Middle School and 89 percent at SMK.
Somes stated that school staff did not initiate conversation with students about the shootings. “We wanted to leave it up to the parents in terms of what information was shared,” Somes said.
Since the shootings on Friday, representatives from the district met with members of the Ware Police and Fire Departments to discuss safety issues. Somes said this safety team has met fairly regularly in the past and will continue to meet as a group to discuss the best safety practices for the schools. “We will strengthen what we already have in place as we work collaboratively with the public safety officials,” he said.
Somes shared that plans are in the works to practice lock-down mode drills at all three schools after the Christmas break. Committee member Brian Winslow asked whether substitute teachers were included in the lockdown practice, suggesting that it would be more helpful than simply providing them with written or oral directions. Committee member William Gunn asked whether the students would be involved in the lockdown practices and questioned whether it might be too soon to place them in that type of situation following the Newtown shootings. Somes said he would take the comments back to the administrative team.
Committee member Danielle Souza asked staff, parents, and community members to submit any school safety concerns or comments they might have. “We want your feedback and we want you to get involved,” said Souza.
Committee member Aaron Sawabi asked that the members of the School Committee be allowed to play a more active role regarding school safety moving forward. He said he wanted to reassure parents that the committee members have the students’ safety paramount in their mind. “We want to raise the comfort level,” he said. “We’re not starting from scratch here. We have procedures in place that we will build on.”
Sawabi asked if committee members could observe during the lock down drills, be notified of the safety team meetings, and receive copies of the minutes from those meetings. “Where it’s appropriate for us to get involved, we should get involved,” Sawabi said. “I want to do everything possible to make sure we have the best procedures in place that we can implement…As parents we want to feel that this is a safe place to be during the day.”
Ware Reader Forum 