Dear BASD Parents/Guardians,

We are feeling a mix of anguish, anger and anxiety resulting from the horrific murder of elementary children and teachers in Texas. As parents and educators, we think immediately of our own children and the precious students that we teach and love every day. I want to acknowledge that yesterday’s [May 24] tragedy puts additional stress on teachers, staff, parents and students.

Our chief of pupil services and our coordinator of school safety shared reminders with principals both for supporting students as needed in the aftermath of the violence in Texas and for continuing to focus on everyday school security protocols we have in place.

After nearly every school shooting, we learn that the murderer exhibited concerning behaviors/comments or in some way foreshadowed their plans. This is often called “leakage.” The best defense against school shootings is preventing them in the first place – and that means recognizing and reporting anything that just doesn’t feel right. For parents, perhaps your child shared something they overheard or saw on social media. Or perhaps, at school drop-off or pickup, you notice someone who hasn’t been there before and it raises a question in your mind. The saying “see something, say something” is truly one of the best prevention tools. As is, “better safe than sorry.”

I exchanged emails ... with Dr. Peter Langan, an author of books on school shootings and one of our nation’s top experts on the topic. He acknowledged that prevention is everyone’s job as any of us may see or hear something that raises a concern. Additionally, Dr. Langan reminded me that statistically, a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than killed in a school shooting and 1,000 times more likely to die in a traffic accident than a school shooting.

While we can appreciate the context and we can intellectually understand the statistics, those facts don’t do much to reduce our concerns in the immediate aftermath of a school shooting. Hopefully, in the days ahead those facts and that context provide some sense of safety.

Finally, Pennsylvania has an extremely effective tool for anonymously reporting concerns about student safety known as Safe2Say Something. Calls/messages to the hotline are answered 24/7 by a trained person. Reports of potential threats to school safety are immediately relayed to local police and school administrators, regardless of the time of day or night.

Here’s the link: https://www.safe2saypa.org.

Let us offer up our prayers for the families impacted by yesterday’s horrible events.

Joseph J. Roy

Superintendent of Schools