Educators and others who work with children are continuing to grapple with the shooting last week in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 elementary school students and two teachers dead.
The Mohawk Trail/Hawlemont Regional School District in Franklin County previously dealt with its own gun scare. In 2008, two students were involved in bringing a gun into the high school. State police confiscated the weapon after receiving a tip from another student.
Superintendent Sheryl Stanton was not in her role at the time of the incident, but said school safety is of the utmost importance to her and school staff. Stanton said she's been rattled by the school shooting in Uvalde.
"I think it sits in every one of our minds as a superintendent that what happens in Texas, what's happened in Florida, what's happened in Connecticut at Sandy Hook is not anything that can't happen in one of our schools," Stanton said.
Stanton said teachers are giving elementary school students advice on how they can be more aware.
"We have used the 'see something, say something' so that our students know that if they see something in the community or on the bus ride in or in school, that that doesn't sit right with their gut, that they need to tell an adult," she said.
In the days after the Uvalde murders, Stanton said the staff at her schools are staying vigilant and trying to get their students back to their routine.
Enrique Vargas Gonzalez, a therapist at the Gándara Center, a health center for communities of color in Springfield, has advice on ways parents can talk to their child about the school shooting. Gonzalez said the parents he's spoken to have a lot of anxiety and concerns about approaching this tragedy with their children.
"We might ask what they're feeling, what they're thinking, but we want to remind them that they are safe. We want to remind them that they are surrounded by supports — the parents, the caregivers, the teachers, the friends," Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said parents have to switch their child's focus to the positive aspects of what they have, so they don't feel threatened or at risk in any way. He said being in community with loved ones will allow everyone to feel more supported at this time.
