Trumbauersville Times
01/07/2021
Principal's Post - Supporting Our Children
Dear Trumbauersville Community,
I often talk with our school staff about how all adults in the school who work with our students are “teachers.” From the classroom to the recess yard, from the lunch line to the school bus, our students are paying attention. They are watching our actions and listening to our casual conversations. Our behaviors are teaching them every day. This extends beyond the formal school day and into our general society, as well. What our young children have been exposed to recently has provided many complicated “learnings.”
Our students are living through an extended medical pandemic, through numerous examples of deadly racial inequalities, through national division and tension, and yesterday...through a mob violently breaking into our national Capitol causing ALICE-type responses from US senators, US representatives, and staff. The images and news coverage that our students may have seen related to this violent break-in (and to the other challenging events of recent times) could be emotional and traumatic for them. As a school community, this is a time for us to come together to support our children. They deserve the best we have.
In supporting our children to cope with frightening news it is important to follow their lead when talking about it. It is a good practice for us to respect the children’s desire to either talk or not talk about the topics. General and honest curiosity from children should not be dismissed. They should get enough information to satisfy their curiosity, but not too much to sensationalize the issue. In the end, they are children and are not grown-ups; they should not be prematurely burdened by grown-up created problems. They need to know that the adults in their school community and in their family care about them and are confident that they are safe. Also, they should know that violence against others is never a way to respond to disagreement or lack of understanding.
Part of the core of our vision for our school is the ongoing growth of adults and children. To that end, I am including a few resources related to supporting children to deal with difficult events. While many of the resources are more related to children above the elementary level, they are helpful for how we as adults can continue to grow and learn as we work to support our children and ourselves in understanding traumatic events - including but not limited to 1/6/21. The resources are:
As we come together to support our students, it is an important time for us to reinforce our core ideas of Compassion, Perseverance, and Respect. These ideas are fundamental to our Trumabuersville School community. As we develop young members of a civilized society, we must model through our behavior and highlight these ideas at all times; especially when we disagree with one another.
Together we can engage in the important work of teaching students to be critical thinkers. Through all we do, we are working to develop individual students who will analyze situations, identify problems, and enact appropriate solutions. Students who will not be swayed by group-think mentality.
As a professional educator and as a dad, I believe that our most important work in society is supporting our children. That work can only be done collectively with civility and with dignity. Our children are learning from us.
Sincerely,
-Adam
Adam Schmucker
Principal
Keeping in Communication about COVID-19
As we enter into a New Year, it is probably safe to assume that at some level all of us have become COVID weary. The desire to return to a sense of normalcy is only human. This might cause us to relax our vigilance, but our vigilance is what is vital in preventing the spread of this virus. For this reason, I am asking that we each take a moment to reflect on whether or not we are staying the course with the mitigation strategies that keep our families and neighbors safe.
It is critical that we continue to work together to avoid becoming complacent in our following the District’s guidelines for when our children need to remain home from school. It is only through our collective attention to this ongoing communication that we can continue to ensure we are working to keep COVID-19 out of our school, to the greatest extent possible.
Please take a moment to review these guidelines. And please feel free to contact our school with any questions.
Consider blood donation to the American Red Cross.
About us
Welcome to Trumbauersville Elementary School. Our school community is committed to the on-going development of all of our students and staff members. We embrace an inquiry stance and work collectively so that we can create the best learning environment.
The learning starts with ensuring that students are healthy emotionally and physically. As a focus toward emotional safety, our school employs a School-Wide Positive Behavior Support Plan focused on fostering Compassion, Perseverance, and Respect.
At Trumbauersville, we are passionate about children and education and we look forward to sharing our school community with you.
Email: ehaslett@qcsd.org
Website: https://tes.qcsd.org/
Location: 101 Woodview Drive, Quakertown, PA, USA
Phone: 215.529.2550
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Trumbauersville-Elementary-School-912918198802561