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Lunchroom TVs tell Burr Ridge students of Connecticut shooting
Updated: February 18, 2013 1:17AM
BURR RIDGE — The news was on when eighth-graders at Burr Ridge Middle School entered the cafeteria for lunch Friday. And the news wasn’t good.
Superintendent Tom Schneider said he considered turning off the televisions and shielding his students from the horrific story of the school shooting in Connecticut. But after some consideration, he decided to keep the televisions on.
“As adults, we want to set an example for how to deal with bad news,” Schneider said, and turning our heads away isn’t the answer.
This isn’t the first time in his career Schneider has made a difficult decision about how to react to bad news. On Sept. 11, 2001, a back-to-school open house was scheduled at the school where Schneider was principal.
“We decided to go ahead with it, and we had the best attendance ever,” he said.
The event gave people a chance to talk about what was going on rather than dealing with their feelings alone. He decided that also was best for his students Friday.
Eighth-graders at Burr Ridge Middle School are the only students in District 180 who can watch television at lunch, so the rest of the student body likely was unaware Friday of what had happened.
Of course, they all eventually will learn of the senseless violence that occurred, but Schneider wants them to remember that school is a safe place.
“This is the unusual,” he said. “Schools are safe. We can’t lose sight of that.”
