Parents, educators try to come to grips with Texas elementary school shooting

Leechburg resident Angelique Senko teared up Wednesday while discussing Tuesday’s elementary school massacre in Texas.

Senko, 44, a former Leechburg Area School Board member with three children enrolled in the high school, described news of the shooting as terrible.

Like parents all over the country, Senko is trying to come to grips with the deaths of 19 children at the hands of a gunman barely old enough to be considered an adult. The shooting, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, also killed two teachers. The gunman was killed by police.

Psychiatrist Gary Swanson of Allegheny Health Network said there’s no right path for parents other than to reassure their children and try to make them feel safe. Discussions are going to be complicated, even more so depending on the age, he said.

“For young kids, you want to restrict access to the news, especially bad news,” Swanson said.

For older children and teens with access to social media, they will see more, read more and have more difficult questions.

“It’s important to be aware of what they’re seeing and to open a dialogue that lets them talk it out,” Swanson said. “You might ask if they have questions or prompt them to talk about anything that bothers them.”

Highlands School District parent Nikki Romano won’t discuss the tragedy with her first grade child.

“It’s too scary,” Romano said. “Little ones don’t need to hear about things like this.”

She takes temporary solace in the fact that her child is too young for social media and doesn’t see or hear the TV news at home. Elementary children are slightly easier to shelter, she said.

With district security measures that include metal detectors and a two-tiered locked entry to schools, Romano didn’t have reservations about sending her child to school on Wednesday.

“I feel safe here,” she said.

Ryan Sittler took a different approach with his 7-year-old child who attends Stanwood Elementary School in Hempfield.

Wednesday morning, Sittler and his wife sat down with their daughter and explained that there was a shooting at a Texas school where children and teachers were killed.

“She said, ‘So could that happen at my school,’ ” Sittler said. “It didn’t even cross my mind to think about that aspect of it. I said, ‘At your school (that) would be highly unlikely.’ … She’s at Stanwood and so to get in you have to go to the camera, buzz in, show ID, so certainly the chances of something like that happening are greatly reduced.

“Of course I wasn’t going to tell her that’s no guarantee.”

Sittler, of Hunker, said he didn’t know what other safety measures the district could take that would be effective.

“I don’t know that the district could do much else,” he said. “A lot of parents are saying we need safer security at the schools, but I don’t know how realistic that is.”

The Texas shooting marked the second high-profile shooting incident over the course of two weeks. Last week, 10 people were killed and three others wounded in a mass shooting at a Buffalo, N.Y. grocery store.

“I don’t think anyone has concrete answers to what’s happening,” said Shavonne Arthurs, who recently taught the course “Mass Shooting in America” at Seton Hill University in Greensburg. “What comes into the conversation every time is guns and gun control … and then (people) are really split on what we should do.”

Arthurs — whose class honed in on the 1999 Columbine High School shooting, the 2012 Colorado move theater shooting and 2007 Virginia Tech shooting — instead pointed to several social issues that come into play during mass shooting events.

In looking at several modern day mass shootings, many of the shooters are introverts and are socially by themselves. Several have broken relationships at home and red flags are present. Oftentimes the person was bullied, fired from their job or are going through bad breakups.

“There’s a lot of social things that we have to switch around,” Arthurs said. “Emotional, mental health is stigmatized. I think if we start to focus on that and say it’s OK to talk about your feelings, go to therapy, it might head off some of what happens.”

Another factor, Arthurs said, is looking for concerning behaviors and communications from your children.

“Be open to it and those types of things that could head off future detriments,” she said. “I think it’s really opening dialogue, opening communication, and just being present for your kids is really important in situations like this.”

The same goes for talking to children after a mass casualty event.

“If children are asking questions, give them down-to-earth answers,” Arthurs said. “Tell them you’re scared. You don’t necessarily have to put on a brave face about it. Just be honest.”

Autumn Jevicky of Greensburg, with twins in sixth grade, said she felt comforted by a message Greensburg Salem Superintendent Ken Bissell sent to parents yesterday, noting that police will have an increased presence at district buildings for the next two weeks.

“I appreciate what Greensburg Salem is doing, but with all of the resources that they have … they cannot guarantee it won’t happen,” she said.

Jevicky said she has talked to her twins about school shootings in the past to air their fears and concerns. But she shouldn’t have to, she said. Rather, she feels federal lawmakers should take action to prevent more heartbreak.

“The only thing that is ever going to bring about change is the elected officials … stepping up to the plate,” she said.

Highlands Superintendent Monique Mawhinney emailed district families Wednesday: “Regardless of the distance, these devastating tragedies hit home to all of us.

“It is incomprehensible to imagine what the parents, students, faculty, staff and family members of that community are going through. At times like these, we need to reflect on the positive things happening in our lives and be thankful that we have each other.”

Nicole Roberts, principal of H.D. Berkey Elementary School in Arnold, and several teachers said Wednesday morning that none of the school’s first and second grade students brought up the shooting. Teachers were prepared if they did, but would not broach the subject with students.

“Parents might not be telling their kids. We don’t need to be the ones to tell them,” she said. “We want to protect their childhood and their innocence as much as we can.”

Even though she’s been an educator for 30 years, Roberts said her mother told her to be extra careful Wednesday, and to protect her students and herself.

“As a principal, these are our children while they’re here,” Roberts said. “Protecting these children in this school is my No. 1 priority. I will do anything it takes to protect these kids while they’re here.”

Roberts was thinking of her 2-year-old granddaughter, who she dropped off at daycare that morning.

“I’m trusting somebody else to protect her and keep her safe today, as people are trusting me,” she said.

And that’s an important part of dealing with such tragedies, according to Swanson, the AHN psychiatrist, who said parents should make every attempt to assuage fears.

“You have to tell them that it’s a rare thing and that you are doing everything you can to make sure they are safe,” Swanson said. “Even though we hear about these way too often and older kids are more aware, you have to remind them of their safety.”

Highlands Middle School parent Christina Faltot said her family sat down and talked openly about the shooting, but she let her children guide the discussion.

“We asked them how they felt about going to school and they actually pointed out all the safety protocols, which made me feel better,” said Faltot, whose children attend sixth and seventh grades.

“Children are resilient. They weren’t worried, but they were sad.”

Faltot feels it’s important to sift through the mounds of information with her kids to make sure they can process it with her help.

“You can’t wrap them in a bubble,” she said. “You can just make sure they are equipped with knowledge.”

Leechburg Area parent Lynne Sowinski breathes easier knowing the district upgraded security in recent years and employs a security officer at the elementary school.

Still, she was nervous sending her son, a third-grader, to class on Wednesday.

“You can limit some of the places you go, but is that the answer?” she said.

Sowinski said she tries to shield her son from tragic news like that of the Texas school shooting because their young world is already are dealing with so much.

“His best friend is moving and he’s trying to deal with that,” she said. “I’m just trying to keep him on an even keel with those kinds of things that are a big deal to him.”

Despite her worries, Senko’s children were in school on Wednesday.

“One thing we stress in our home is that you can’t live your life in fear. You can’t stop living your life,” Senko said. “But, you can’t go anywhere without that being in the back of your mind.”

Seton Hill University student Rina Foley, 20, of Leechburg, recently completed Arthurs’ “Mass Shootings in America” course.

Foley said the course taught statistics showing that mass shootings have significantly decreased since 2010. Facts, however, provide little comfort when confronted with recent tragedies.

“I find that hard to believe with what’s going on right now,” Foley said. “It’s 100% sickening and devastating to even see such a thing, Every time I look at the news, all I see are shootings everywhere around me. I’m scared and constantly worried if or when I’m gonna be in the middle.”

Foley, a Leechburg Area graduate, is feeling stressed and scared with all of the recent shootings.

“I’m honestly afraid to go anywhere. I’m scared to go to the store, and I’m scared to go for a walk by myself,” Foley said.

Foley is hopeful stricter gun legislation is passed.

“I think they need to regulate access to firearms and have a more in-depth background check, but it’s hard to do when people can still buy them illegally,” Foley said.