Montgomery County schools respond to violence
Alexandra Hemenway, CT News Reporter
April 27 2007
Many of the Montgomery County schools that surround the Blacksburg area responded to last week's shooting with an outpouring of support.
"Our third and fourth-grade students sent posters over to Virginia Tech last week," said Brian Kitts, the principal of Kipps Elementary School, "I know almost all of our students sent cards over to the university as well."
Many elementary, middle and high schools in the county sent cards and posters over to Tech that are now being displayed in Squires Student Center.
"Our second-graders made a large poster that had all of their handprints on it," said Terri Spahr, secretary at Falling Branch Elementary School. "The poster also listed reasons why our students love Virginia Tech."
Montgomery County students also showed their appreciation for the police officers who are currently helping the Tech community.
"Our fourth-graders wrote letters to all of the police officers who came to the community last week," Spahr said. "Our students also wrote letters thanking the Chief of Police Jack Goodwin for all of this work."
Of course, many Montgomery County students were impacted by this tragedy in personal ways; many students had parents or family members who were lost in the shooting.
"Montgomery County students were greatly impacted by this tragedy," said Montgomery County Superintendent Tiffany Anderson. "We have students who have parents who work at the university, we have students who lost cousins and grandparents, in fact one of the victims graduated from Blacksburg High last spring; this is just a very difficult time for everyone."
With this in mind, the Montgomery County school board decided that the best thing they could do for their students was provide counselors for the students who needed them.
"We were all off last week," Anderson said. "We had counselors after school on Monday evening for parents and families to come and meet and discuss what they were feeling."
Before returning to classes, all Montgomery County principals and teachers met with counselors and were told what conversations would be appropriate to have with students, as well as when a teacher should refer a student to a counselor.
"We had a teacher work day last week while students were at home," Anderson said. "Principals met with their teachers and other staff to discuss the resources that were available for their students as well as how they could talk to their students."
And while all of these Montgomery County schools may be experiencing their own form of grief, they continue to show their support for Tech.
"We have so many students who have been affected by this terrible event," Anderson said. "We are just trying to provide support for everyone who needs it."