The horrific events that transpired at the World Trade Center three weeks ago have changed the lives of so many people.
But what about the little people, like children?
School officials in both North Bergen and Guttenberg worked hard to make sure that the students, in particular the younger ones, were not totally traumatized by the Sept. 11 tragedy.
“I think it was very important for us to keep a sense of routine,” said Peter Fischbach, North Bergen’s superintendent of schools. “We tried to keep things going like they always do, to prevent the students from being traumatized. Although it was a terrible tragedy, we didn’t want to make our children alarmed.”
Fischbach said that each school’s crisis intervention team was called to duty, just in case students felt the pain and anguish that came with the disaster.
“Ninety percent of the discussions in the classrooms were initiated by the students themselves,” Fischbach said. “Because of the sensitivity involved, we let the children start the discussions, to let them speak about how they felt. Then, we were able to react to the children’s concerns.”
Fischbach said that it was very fortunate that none of the students in his district lost immediate relatives, like parents, in the disaster.
There were several activities that helped the students cope with the pain. The high school’s Bible Club held a prayer service before school. On Friday, Sept. 14, the day that President Bush declared as a “national day of prayer and remembrance,” North Bergen declared that it was a day of “prayer and patriotism,” and there was a two-minute moment of silent reflection offered at 9:05 a.m.
“We’ve also done a lot to promote democracy in the classrooms, but that is part of our general social studies curriculum,” Fischbach said.
“If the students had any problems, they were identified and they received the proper assistance,” Fischbach said. “I think we all handled the tragedy pretty well, considering the circumstances.”
At Guttenberg’s lone grade school, Anna L. Klein School, provisions were put into place almost immediately to help students deal with the fear and anxiety caused by the disaster.
“We would only have compounded the tragedy if we did not take action right away,” said Guttenberg Superintendent of Schools Dr. Robert Penna. “We had 15 steps we put into place right away and we had another 10 programs we followed up with in the days that followed.”
The most important thing that Penna and his staff had to do in the moments after the attack was to watch for signs of stress and anxiety.
“Our guidance counselor [Pedro Garrido], our child psychologist [Nehama Barouk] and our social worker [Isabel DeMaster] were on the lookout for any children that showed signs. Thank God, we had no parents of students that perished or were injured. We wondered if the students would express their emotions and take it out on others.”
Added Penna, “I think the one word we expressed was tolerance.”
Each grade level was handled differently. Older students had a better understanding of the extent of the disaster, while the younger students probably didn’t fully understand the enormousness.
“The older children posed the more pointed questions, but each child was given the chance to speak to the teachers and the guidance counselor about how they felt,” Penna said. “That was important.”
Garrido said that there was a range of emotions that the students experienced.
“We had to deal with the students on different levels,” Garrido said. “With the younger students, we didn’t want to overdo it and we dealt with it in other ways. We kept reassuring them that they were safe. We told them that the police and the fire department were there to help them.”
Added Garrido, “Some felt scared. Some were confused and unsure how to think. But we needed to reassure them that everything was going to be okay. We encouraged them to talk and express their feelings.”
Garrido said that the impact was definitely felt, because a majority of the students looked out of the windows of the school every day to see the Twin Towers and now, the magnificent tall buildings are no longer there.
“I think because we’re so close that the attack hit home more than, say, Oklahoma City,” Garrido said. “It’s more realistic to them because they can actually see it when they look across the river.”
One of the most important steps Penna made was to make an announcement to the students.
“I said that it was natural to feel sad or angry about what happened,” Penna said. “But there was no need to express the anger, the hatred or the vengeance on anyone else. We wanted to make sure that one message came through loud and clear.”
Penna said that the school declared last week as “red, white and blue Week,” encouraging students and staff to proudly wear the colors of the American flag to show support for the United States.
“We also came up with one proud statement that is featured all over the school,” Penna said. “It says, ‘God Bless America, Unity, Peace and Freedom.’ We felt that it was an appropriate statement.”
Penna said that many of the school’s students have drawn American flags to proudly display throughout the school.
Focusing on patriotism has enabled a lot of the students to cope with the tragedy.
The focus will continue in all North Bergen and Guttenberg schools for the months to come.