To All Faculty and Staff
First, thank you very much for your help today in this incredible time of national tragedy. I am grateful, as always, for the love and support that you give our children.
I suspect that as the number and the existent of the casualties become apparent that all of us will in some way be affected directly by the pain and the anguish of this loss and the frustration, which comes from it. Consequently, I believe that the next days and weeks will test all of us in significant ways. Let's resolve to support one another and our students.
Please remember as you are caught in the endless spiral of providing comfort and care to those around you that you remember to take time for yourself and especially your families.
At this point I will have a wrath of flowers delivered to the center of campus tomorrow to be placed near our American flag which will continue to fly at half-mast. In addition, I will be flying the flags of all nations later in the weeks to remind all of us of the multi-ethnic, multi-national composition of our school and community. This terrorist attack is an attack on all of us.
Later this week I will make available individual flowers so that students whose family members or friends have been affected by this tragedy can place a single flower at the base of our flagpole to help memorialize the pain of their family loss.
We are going to have school as usual and I would ask that you please encourage your students to remain in school because all of us will need the regularity of routine and expectation to envelop us during this time of turmoil Stay tuned to your voicemail at least a couple of times a day, so you can be up to date with accurate information tat will allow you to countermand the impact of rumors. If you wish a counselor to visit your class(es) to talk about the events of September 11,k2001 please just ask. (
I know some of us are better at dealing with these kinds of issues than others-at least with our public persons)
Stay flexible, stay informed, and stay as sensitive and compassionate as all of you were today. Thank you.