Email | Print

Educating the children of New York City and environs has always been a challenge, given budget constraints, teacher and space shortages, and social and economic disadvantage. Despite these limitations, metropolitan area schools are responding to the demands for expanded testing and improved achievement. Their complex mission includes helping students reach grade level in all subjects, learn how to get along with adults and peers, and make wise choices in their personal lives. When the Twin Towers fell, the responsibilities of teachers, school leaders and families reached new heights. In a workshop with teachers on how adults are handling their own stress and grief, an experienced psychologist faces this immediate, overwhelming concern: how will the teachers greet and support two returning colleagues who lost family members in the WTC attack?

Well before September 11, many teachers, administrators and support staff felt overwhelmed. The unexpected and enormous wave of trauma that washed over the City and its students has created additional challenges for educators and family members alike. Many crisis and bereavement services now available for children and families can appropriately relieve the burden of schools. Schools are, however, the place where children and adolescents spend most of their time, learn life lessons - both academic and social - make friends and benefit from role models and mentors. Thus, schools are an ideal place for children and adolescents to receive comfort and recover from the devastating event we all shared.

Ironically, if schools are to become centers of comfort and recovery, the adults in the education system and at home must be emotionally prepared to address children's fears and concerns. The crisis has taken a monumental toll on all caregivers. Thus, all the adults who interact with children should be a primary focus of post-trauma support and services. A school administrator revealed her radically increased job stress. "I used to think I was in charge of children's minds," she said. "Now, when I think about bombs and attacks, I feel it is a totally different job from what I was trained to do."

Mental health workers have been deeply touched by the experiences of grief and loss to which they bear witness. A social worker described her eyes welling with tears as she provided crisis counseling to a teacher whose brother was initially missing, but later found unharmed. "Why am I immobilized?" the teacher asked. "Didn't everything turn out okay?"

Classrooms are filled with children with pre-existing anxiety disorders worsened by the events of September 11. Teachers and administrators are responsible for children who are concentrating less and acting out more, bereaved children, and children who appear unchanged and unaffected by the tragedy.

A kindergarten teacher related that many five-year-olds are building and knocking down "twin towers" in the block corner. At lunch, a young boy devouring a pair of "fish sticks said, "Look, I'm destroying the twin towers!"

Teachers, administrators, support personnel and family members need opportunities to acknowledge and adapt to their increased "life and death" responsibilities for children as well as the practical and emotional impact of these changes on their work and personal lives.

Shaken by the events of 9/11, parents attending workshops on how to talk to children about terrorism and trauma continually ask, "how can I reassure my child when there are no guarantees?"

Schools have a crucial role to play in educating and supporting parents and guardians. Developing solid partnerships with families to guide and comfort children has never been more important. Guarding against anti-Muslim, -Arab and -Afghani prejudice and discrimination is another fundamental concern, as the following illustrate:

The week after Sept 11, a parent and worker at a local hospital attending a workshop on stress management tearfully related her daughter's sadness. "She wants to know why people hate her and want to kill her?" Similarly, a Muslim Afghani teacher at a workshop on tolerance approached the presenter afterwards, wondering how she should respond when students ask her why her "people" hate Americans and try to kill them.

We know that crisis can create opportunities for significant personal and institutional change. Perhaps the horror of the 9/11 tragedy provides the "mother of all teachable moments," reaffirming multi-cultural acceptance and community as we rebuild a sense of security. Although a delicate and challenging task, to fail to do so would be a stunning abrogation of American values.

Of course, within this changed environment, schools must continue to address their academic mission. How can they pursue the dual processes of reading and recovery? Mental health organizations like the School Mental Health Alliance (SMHA) of the North Shore-LIJ Health System stand ready to support staff, students, and families and provide information on the impact of trauma and the healing process.

Dedicated to professional development and violence prevention/intervention, the SMHA has a long history of collaborating with school personnel, families and students to promote optimal social, emotional and academic development and build strong, safe and healthy learning environments. Multi-cultural respect and competence are paramount in the SMHA approach to school-based mental health programs and services.

Sponsored by Project Liberty, the SMHA can provide single seminars, workshop series, classroom-based curriculum, and individual and group counseling at school or community sites at no cost to the school, families or community groups.