Back to school. Can you remember?
As I recall, it was bittersweet. I had to vacate leisure for a mandatory structure and incessant demands. I joined friends in coping with academic stress and occasional fun.
Parents are pleased, of course. They encounter no more claims of their children complaining about being bored. On the other hand, they have to prod their children to do their homework and then awaken unwilling, cranky offspring to report to school at the prescribed time.
Mornings can be emotionally challenging. An age-old circumstance of being a parent.
Once ensconced at the neighborhood elementary, middle and high schools, life has changed—and not for the better. Potential violence is a constant and ugly presence.
Unfortunately, children and parents have to live with fear of a mass shooting propagated by an alienated student. The prospect of mayhem is and must be overwhelmingly gruesome for parents throughout our nation. Random and deadly firing by a crazed gunman no longer can be dismissed as something that happens elsewhere, not in my backyard.
Just last March, a 17-year-old student at Great Mills High School in Southern Maryland wounded two students.; one later died. A school resource officer fired at the gunman, who later died. The frightening incident took less than a minute.
Teachers and administrators now must spend time and resources on safety to an extreme never before experienced in our young country. It’s absolutely regrettable that teachers. principals, guidance counselors, custodians and security personnel must spend an inordinate time and energy protecting students and staff from senseless violence.
An article in the Aug. 25, 2018 issue of The Sunday Star about the Aug. 22 meeting of the Talbot County Board of Education reported that landscaping will be cleared at all schools to preclude hiding spots for potential shooters; exterior LED lighting will be upgraded; door hinge pins to doors’ interiors will be relocated; science labs’ propane tanks will be secured and tourniquets will be provided at all schools.
The county’s school board discussed the acquisition of 31 additional 700Hz encrypted radios at the cost of $103,850. Communication among first responders during chaos must be crystal clear.
We live in a new reality at schools throughout the country. We can’t ignore the all-too frequent mass shootings. Worse-case preparation is mandatory and repulsive at the same time. School systems necessarily are spending time and money on non-academic needs, because to do otherwise would place students in situations already experienced in Florida, Connecticut, Colorado and other well-publicized towns and cities.
Yet emergency preparedness is an unfortunate but critical distraction.
I feel sickened by the murders visited on our schools. Too many young people have lost their lives. Too many parents have lost their loved ones, scarred forever by senseless violence. True too of friends whose classmates were killed often for incomprehensible reasons.
No column such as this one should end on a sour note. Every day, a school opens for business is a day that makes our future brighter.
Schools often spawn dreams Teachers and coaches serve as invaluable role models.
A new school year is exciting and hopeful. Students grow as people mastering sometimes difficult subjects and forming relationships with fellow students and demanding faculty members. A school is a crucible that tests intellectual and emotional limits.
When I see children waiting for a bus, sometimes with parents, I feel nostalgic, but mostly I feel optimistic. I wonder if these nameless children will accomplish great things, or maybe live good, productive lives. I’m also glad that school is long past.
The word that comes readily to mind to describe my educational experience. is “discipline.” The self -imposed kind.
I recall the continual journey to perform up to my parents’ standards and compete with peers. The struggle at times was worth the benefit.
As children attend their first day of school today, with backpacks filled with supplies and minds filled with nervous anticipation, I hope that the 2018-2019 school year in Talbot County brings hard work, mental and physical growth and periodic fun and laughter—all happening in a safe and comfortable environment.
When I I sit behind a school bus loading and unloading school children, I will be determined to be patient and appreciative of the school bus drivers transporting kids to their futures. I learned patience in school—maybe my toughest lesson.
I’m still picking up bits and pieces of knowledge and self-awareness. Schooling and learning never stop.
Columnist Howard Freedlander retired in 2011 as Deputy State Treasurer of the State of Maryland. Previously, he was the executive officer of the Maryland National Guard. He also served as community editor for Chesapeake Publishing, lastly at the Queen Anne’s Record-Observer. In retirement, Howard serves on the boards of several non-profits on the Eastern Shore, Annapolis and Philadelphia.
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