Executive Director's Note

Betty Edwards

I'm haunted by a book

and the message it sends to educators. Recently, I finished reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and I can't get it off my mind. This story is about a teenage boy who goes on a shooting rampage in his high school, killing 10 of his classmates and changing the lives of scores of others forever—all in 19 minutes.

It is difficult to quantify the impact of this type of tragedy because it touches the lives of those who were wounded physically and emotionally, their families, and an entire community.

Nineteen Minutes is a fictional account of a shocking event and the years of bullying and abuse that led to the shooter's actions. It highlights the existence of informal groups of students within a school (the preps, the jocks, the geeks) and how students struggle to be accepted. Unfortunately, the book has an eerie resemblance to the real-life shootings at Columbine, Paducah, Kentucky, Jonesboro, Arkansas, and too many other troublesome events at our schools—places that are supposed to be safe havens for our students.

Picoult is not a national expert on abuse and bullying in school; she is an author and a mother. According to the discussion guide, it was her experiences as a mother that led her to write this book.

As the mom of three, I've seen my own children struggle with fitting in and being bullied. It was listening to their experiences, and my own frustrations, that led me to consider the topic. I also kept thinking about how it's not just in high school where we have this public persona that might be different from what we truly feel inside…everyone wonders if they're good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, no matter how old they are.

She also researched and wrote this book because some of her readers—students in middle schools and high schools—asked her to write about bullying. What does this say to those of us responsible for creating safe environments for children and for ensuring that our schools and classrooms are places where students are safe from both physical and emotional harm?

We are charged with creating school environments and learning experiences that lead students to respect and embrace diversity. We need schools full of caring adults who help students transition through adolescence and grow into caring adults who value the importance of difference and the varying gifts we all bring with us.

This We Believe, NMSA's foundational publication, identifies 14 characteristics of successful middle level schools. It is not by accident that those characteristics highlight the importance of attending to each student's physical and emotional health and safety, to providing school environments that support student growth in a variety of ways, and to ensuring that each student has an advocate—an adult who will support and connect with that student.

In this issue of Middle Ground, Larry Taylor addresses the topic of connecting with kids. He discusses several ways he interacts with students, letting them know that he cares. I think it is interesting that he talks about short 10- to 20-second conversations he has with students in the hall. He says, "Fifteen seconds doesn't sound like much, but for some kids, that may be the only adult time they get that day." I have to wonder if "19 minutes" of shooting could be prevented by "15 seconds" of contact time. We need to be deliberate in our actions, curriculum, and school programs, and we need to be diligent in ensuring that our students are healthy and safe—and that they are known for their positive actions, not tragic ones. Every student needs to know that he or she is good enough, talented enough, and special enough—and that others know that, too.