The 24-hour news cycle was already in place before today’s high-school seniors were born, and smartphones and social media have made it easier to live in the moment than ever before. But as insurrectionist supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol Building January 6 while the electoral votes affirming President-Elect Joe Biden’s victory were counted in a joint session of Congress, kids and adults alike were faced with something they’d never seen before.
Local officials in four local school districts talked this week about how news was being covered in their districts. All expressed confidence in the abilities of their teaching staffs.
Kingston Superintendent Paul Padalino puts an enormous amount of faith in the district’s teachers to know how to appropriately discuss potentially frightening or divisive news items.
“We received some suggestions from the state and we’ve also gotten some suggestions from Boces, they did some research,” he said. “But overall, our teachers know what they’re doing. They know how to handle their students. They know when it’s appropriate to have these conversations and at what depth. I try to leave things in their hands to cover these kinds of situations.”
Padalino added that the district was equipped to help with emotional issues that arise from world events. “The district has made a huge commitment to hire social workers and psychologists over the last six years or so,” he said. “We have those resources for kids if they need them.”
Because of recent news events like the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the death last month of an unnamed twelve-year-old girl, a student at J. Watson Bailey Middle School, the Kingston district isn’t new to having frank and open conversations with its students.
“There’s so many different things that go on in our community and in our state,” Padalino said. “And there’s so many different things for our teachers to have to cover. So we have a lot of faith that they can, they can handle sensitive situations and, and in some cases, volatile situations, because they know their kids.”
The superintendent added that teachers know to keep different beliefs in mind when covering news items that might prove divisive. “Especially now, we have to be sensitive to other people’s beliefs,” he said. “Students and their families might be on one side or the other …. And we’re not going to create a dynamic where we’re fighting amongst each other based on our beliefs. Our teachers have got to stay in the middle and stay fair.”
Conversations would likely be very different for younger students than for high schoolers. “At the elementary level … it’s just trying to make them feel safe in this situation and make them understand that,” Padalino said. “And sometimes, especially the younger students, it’s not so much about the topic. It’s just about how they feel, and making them feel safe.”
The Saugerties district has a history of being prepared to speak about serious topics with its students, from the pandemic to Black Lives Matter protests in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, Saugerties Superintendent Kirk Reinhardt said.
“What we did was we put together some resources to see how to integrate these conversations into your civics lesson, or if it’s brought up how to have these conversations,” Reinhardt said. The resumption of hybrid learning after being fully remote during the past two weeks, may yield more discussion than what was already happening. My guess is those conversations may be different next week when we’ll have the kids back in school. Right now it’s pretty much Zoom meetings, and it’s curriculum delivery.”
Reinhardt said the news of the world is everywhere one turns now, a different experience than it was when he began teaching.
“When I first started 30 years ago, I remember there’d be one TV,” he said. “Back in the early Nineties, there was maybe one cable TV in the whole (school) building, and during a break we’d see the OJ trial or the (presidential) election in 2000, you know? And now, the kids find out sometimes before we do, because we’re teaching.”
Reinhardt said it was important to give students the space to feel comfortable talking about news events. “You always want to have those conversations, and you want it to be relative,” he said. “You want students to feel they’re in a safe spot, and so we always walk that fine line because we don’t want to make it personal. You know, we need to talk about, ‘Okay, here’s the Constitution. This is what it means. The media may put it out one way, but in terms of the Constitution, this is what this means. Or in terms of history.’”
Reinhardt said context was important . A history teacher might find a more natural way of discussing what occurred at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. than a math teacher, for example.
“You want your students to be in a safe space, and you don’t want other students to be uncomfortable,” he said. “And so far teachers have done a nice job. You know, we had a lot of situations in the spring [of 2020] with what happened in Minnesota, and even then I think our teachers did a nice job of going through those, those tough, turbulent moments.”
Onteora Superintendent Victoria McLaren said that the Onteora district had a history of inviting open, frank discussions with students on a wide range of topics. She expects conversations about the events of the past few weeks will be no different.
“Our faculty always works hard to support our students, and it is our intention to continue to support the faculty as much as possible in this unprecedented time,” McLaren said. “We continue to provide our teachers with supports and resources in order to have difficult and critical conversations in the classroom.”
The district is providing extra support and training from specialists at the Morningside Institute for Teaching Social Responsibility for all teachers, as well as preparing and sharing classroom resources. It is hosting a series of parent workshops about dealing with trauma at home during these difficult times. Registration is on the district website and on its Facebook pages.
McLaren noted the difference between teaching history and teaching news as it unfolds. “It is always challenging to deal with ever-changing news and events,” she said. “Debate, historical issues and engaging in current, real-world critical thinking are embedded in the New York State social -studies framework, and are a required part of our curriculum. We are clear that it is our civic responsibility to provide space to support students’ engagement with current events, and continue to provide opportunities in the classroom for students to express themselves in critical conversations guided by the teacher.”
The conversations are likely to be different from classroom to classroom and grade to grade. The idea is to give students a space to talk through impactful events in a safe and respectful manner.
“What that looks like, sounds like and feels like is different based on what is developmentally appropriate for each grade level,” she said. “For some students, that is simply the opportunity to name their feelings, while for others it is providing the space to debate and reflect on others with opinions different than your own. It is challenging and essential work.”
New Paltz Superintendent Angela Urbina-Medina cited how New Paltz school district officials and faculty began discussing how to approach conversations with students following the January 6 siege of the Capitol.
“On Thursday, January 7 at the start of the work day, I sent out an e-mail to all staff,” said Urbina-Medina. “I wanted to acknowledge the challenge that we have as educators and parents in trying to explain the inexplicable to children, our own and those we educate and care for. Additional resources were shared with teachers by our deputy superintendent, Mrs. [Michelle] Martoni. I shared with them some food for thought via an article from an educational publication. On Friday we shared some additional resources for parents to utilize in their conversations.”
Urbina-Medina said she’d heard from some concerned parents about how the news might be discussed in the classroom, She said she had confidence that the district’s teachers would be able to handle the discussions professionally and compassionately.
“Educators have a great deal of experience striking a balance between responding to students’ questions and genuine concerns, always ready to utilize a teachable moment,” she said. “However, their knowledge of their students also helps to guide them on when they need to move the conversation along or shift to examine a different aspect of what is being discussed.”
The turbulence of the Trump era has prepared educators to think on their feet, Urbina-Medina said. “We have had a lot of practice over the past four years making shifts and adjusting to the 24-hour news cycle,” she said. “’‘Unprecedented’ doesn’t really do this period justice.”
While she couldn’t say specifically how recent news events were being discussed in each classroom, Urbina-Medina was able to draw on her own experiences as a parent of young kids.
“I know in my home my children are in first grade, so the discussions that we have about current events are rooted in what is developmentally appropriate,” she said. “I’m confident that is happening in classroom discussion and living rooms in this district.”
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