Virginia Tech

The first news of something amiss at Virginia Tech arrived on my computer at 12:51 Monday afternoon. The email read, "The following is a link to an article on MSNBC ... it is about a shooting that just occurred on Va. Tech's campus."

By 1:30 the GDS Crisis Team was already gathering in my office. This group includes Division Directors, counselors and other key school personnel. Our primary concern was with our alumni who attend VT. First, we had to confirm how many alumni attend the school, and who was going to contact each of them. This task was begun by one of the counselors, but then handed off to Kathy Davis, our Alumni Director. Next, we sent an email out to our Upper School students and all faculty letting them know that we were aware of the shootings on the VT campus and that we were checking on the well-being of our alumni, as well as other members of our community, including faculty children and friends of current students.

The meeting was short, as we all wanted to get back to our divisions and head out to afternoon carpool to provide an assurance of safety and to answer any questions that might come up about security measures on our own campus.

Tuesday morning at 7:45 found us gathered again and sending out a note to faculty reminding them of lock down procedures and the importance of being visible during drop off and pick up. We also offered insight to our faculty about how best to communicate with their students about the situation. Most importantly, we learned that all but one of our alumni had reported that they were safe. All were extremely grateful that GDS cared enough to track them down.

During the day, I updated Ed Cone, the Chair of our Board, on what steps we were taking to respond to this crisis. At the Board meeting that afternoon, I relayed this same information to our entire Board. There was a healthy review of security on the GDS campus, which included our communication systems, how we could identify students and adults who might pose a threat and how to best control threats from the outside.

That evening, an e-mail update was sent to parents, letting them know what we were doing and reassuring them we do have a crisis plan in place, which we review regularly. We asked our parents to carefully monitor the media input that their children were receiving. To aid with any discussions of the situation at home, our counseling department posted an outline for parents to help identify and approach any anxiety expressed by their children on our web site.

Today, the threat of harm to our students and alumni seems less, and our resiliency has helped us return to a sense of safety. We are not blind to our need to be prepared, but our cognitive knowledge of the minuscule chance of any such incidents happening on our campus brings us confidence. Still, our emotions remain uneasy and our hearts grieve for those who have lost their lives and those families who have lost their children, parents and friends.

It makes me hug my kids a little tighter every day.