Dear Beacon Community:

 It is with deep sadness that I write to you about the school shooting in Texas only a few days after the racist mass shooting in a grocery store in Buffalo.  I am reaching a point in my career where I struggle to find words.  I grieve all of this senseless violence and I pray for all of the victims and their families.  

It is important to remind ourselves of what we do in our district regarding school safety.  We have solid emergency and safety plans and our school administrators and security director work closely with the Beacon Police Department and the Town of Fishkill to review these plans frequently. Our mental health professionals are available to speak with and provide assistance to students who want to talk more tomorrow and in the days moving forward.  

If you need resources about discussing this with your children at home, this is a good guide. If you want to review community mental health and crisis resources, this link provides information.  A key message in this resource and in others is that children benefit from factual information, provided in an age-appropriate way, but none of us benefit from exposure to the repetition of disturbing images and headlines.  This is advice I try to follow myself.

We will continue to monitor the situation and make changes to our emergency plans as we learn more about what happened.  We will work to be there for our children and for each other to provide support and kindness as we work through this together.  If you have any concerns, please reach out to me or a school administrator.

Sincerely,

Matt Landahl