« We left our hearts . . . | Main | A night to remember »
April 23, 2007
BoardBuzz returns with heavy heartWe're back from our road trip to San Francisco for the NSBA Annual Conference where we shared four days of learning and networking with 14,000 of our closest friends. By all accounts, it was one of the best ever. For the conference 411, check out our on-site blog here.
However, BoardBuzz was deeply saddened by the horrific tragedy at Virginia Tech last Monday and thousands of conference attendees observed a moment of silence in honor of those who lost their lives. Clearly, Virginia Tech is the watershed moment for higher education institutions to rethink and redraft their security plans to better protect and communicate with their students and faculty. And it may mean that they review their applicant screening process as suggested by one Washington Post columnist here.
Just as the Columbine tragedy sent an unnerving wakeup call to K-12 systems across the country, this event will have the same reverberating effects for our higher ed colleagues. Sadly, we learned valuable lessons from the events that unfolded at Columbine High School and since then, our public schools are much better prepared to handle such a possibility.
But, college campuses are far different than closed public school campuses as noted by Post columnist David Broder: "The buildings, sidewalks and grassy areas on campus are as open to interlopers as their classrooms are to freely expressed ideas. The notion of closing down either the campus or the expression of ideas goes against the grain. It violates the whole spirit of the place." Read more of his thoughts here.
For an insider's look at the media coverage of the tragedy, or "the fine line between of covering a story and becoming voyeuristic," as one put it, click here. But apparently citizen journalists won the day as the New York Times deemed Wikipedia (yes, the online encyclopedia) as the best news site with "a polished, detailed article on the massacre, with more than 140 separate footnotes, as well as sidebars that profiled the shooter and a timeline of the attacks."
Posted April 23, 2007 5:05 PM | School Boards
Trackback Pings
BoardBuzz Feed
