Rosa Atkins grew up in a small town in southern Virginia during the civil rights era. She recalls being a young student during those years, and how important her teachers' composure was. "When I think about the horrors of that time," says Atkins, now the superintendent of Charlottesville City Schools, "I remember the smiles of my teachers, their kind words, and how much that reassured me."
Atkins has had to call on those memories to prepare for the new school year, which began on Wednesday morning, just 11 days after white supremacists assembled in this college town to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee. One is accused of killing Charlottesville resident Heather Heyer and injuring 19 others when he rammed his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. "The key to being successful with our students," says Atkins, "is to allow the teachers to get their thoughts and feelings out so that on the first day of school, they won't react emotionally."
Before the city's teachers can help their students, they need to process the events themselves. One school, says Atkins, brought in counselors to meet with teachers; many of them broke down in tears when discussing the violence.
[For more of this story, written by Mimi Kirk, go to https://psmag.com/education/ed...ith-civic-engagement]
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