A terrible tragedy happened this week in our state in a town quite similar to Alpena. Oxford High School has nearly the same number of students and serves a community similar in size to ours. It is a heart wrenching moment when a parent sends their child to school and they don’t return. One of my first experiences as a young educational administrator in 1999 was helping kids through the tragedy of Columbine. It changed education forever. I’d never heard a discussion about school security before then. That fear lives in the hearts and minds of every educator since then.

Alpena is not my birthplace but it’s where I chose to raise my family. I always admired this community’s ability to come together to support each other. It led me to relocate here and to work daily to make life better here for all. We must remind ourselves we have so much more in common than we have differences. Let’s take the chance to learn a lesson from this terrible tragedy. As we move into the holiday season, we have the opportunity to do better for our kids. The stress they face is visible to all who care to observe. We have unprecedented numbers of students facing suspensions and expulsions at all levels. There are things we can do to help. We can disagree respectfully, we can teach kids respect and kindness for themselves and others. Most importantly, we can model it. We can soften our words, we can show kindness and understanding, we can focus on the fact that we all love our kids, we can do it because they need us to. It is our most important and unifying shared belief. In the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, “The time is always right to do what’s right.”

LEE FITZPATRICK,

Director of Communications

Alpena Public Schools