Tuesday, February 28, 2012

For Chardon

I was going to write a post about my amazing run on Saturday, but that will have to wait.  Somehow it doesn't seem right to write about a run in the sun right now.

Right now there are two families suffering losses I hope I never even have to fathom.

(UPDATE, 2/28, 1pm:  And now it's three students that have died.  No words.)

Chardon is a small town on the other side of Cleveland.  It is very similar in size to Rocky River, where I teach.  Our school partnered with Chardon and sent groups of teachers there to learn how to implement their Professional Learning Communities and outstanding Freshmen Mentoring program.  I couldn't make it on the days we went since I was on maternity leave, but everyone I talked to at work was really impressed with what Chardon had in place.  Mentoring at-risk freshman.  Teachers collaborating and using data to identify needs for improvement in the curriculum.

From my experience, Chardon did everything right.

Even their lockdown was well-planned.  Their teacher, Frank Hall, showed amazing guts as he chased down the gunman.

I started to really think about this.  Things are so, SO different than they were 12 years ago when I started teaching.  And definitely WAY different than they were when I was in middle school and high school.

I had it relatively easy in high school--by then, either I didn't care if someone picked on me or the tormenting had pretty much stopped.

But when I was being picked on, pretty much daily, from 5th grade to 8th grade, I knew that when I walked out of that school building it was done. Until the next day.  Until I had to see that kid at lunch or in the hallway, and they'd pick on me for being "too smart" or "too fat" or "too tall" or "having hair too dark" or "wearing generic shoes" or insert-completely-asinine-12-year-old-insult here.

It ended at home.  I was safe at home.

This culture we've got now is scary.  I see these kids with their phones attached to their bodies like another appendage--they are always on.  Thank God, and I truly mean that, there was no Facebook or Twitter or YouTube when I was getting bullied.  Sometimes I wonder if I would have been able to come out of that as fine as I did if I wasn't able to turn it off for three years straight.  If I wasn't able to turn that bullying off at 3:08pm.

It appears that bullying was at least partially a motive.  And what used to turn into a fight after school or in the lunch room, has turned into a complete and utter tragedy.  And I'm sure everyone will weigh in on what Chardon did or did not do.  I'm telling you right now:  Chardon did everything they could.

This is bigger than us.  And it has to stop.


Prayers for the Chardon community today, and to all who feel that they are hopeless and lost.  Prayers that they are helped before they feel this is the answer.

6 comments:

Carolina John said...

That's not cool at all. I also got picked on a lot in 6-9 grades, and it wasn't a picnic. My prayers go out to the families.

Karen said...

It was stressful enough "back in the day" when there wasn't twitter and facebook. I can't imagine how hard it would be for kid now. I have not heard or read the complete story on what happened but the snippet I did hear was praising the school for having a plan in place and doing everything right. Truly heartbreaking that you have to worry about these things happening.

Maggs said...

it's so sad. My cousins are from Chardon and one of them teaches in the school district. I just can't imagine how everyone feels.

Lindsay said...

Well said. I've been paying close attention to the story, especially since it's near where my Mom lives. I was picked on and, you're right, at least it ended when I got home. I wish kids understood that it gets better.

Michelle said...

Amen. Well said.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sticking up for schools. Teachers can't be everywhere and see/hear everything. If bullying was indeed involved (which I don't think it was) if no one said anything, then educators can't DO anything. We used to call it teasing-gave it and received it. We ALL got picked on-ganged up and picked on others. It's pretty much a right of passage (or it USED to be). Now it's out of control. If my daughter were younger, I doubt if she would have cell/FB/twitter/etc.