PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Teachers and staffers at Philadelphia’s Overbrook High School are trying to help students process their emotions, after four of their classmates were shot and wounded near the school a week ago.
Philadelphia police are still trying to develop suspects and discover a motive for last Wednesday’s shooting. Four students were injured when someone in an SUV fired shots near a beauty salon a block from school, just after an early dismissal.
Adults at the school are watching for signs of how students are coping, said Overbrook Principal Dr. Kahlila Johnson.
“Oftentimes people think students are going to come to us and share how they’re feeling. They don’t,” Johnson told KYW Newsradio. “Sometimes for our students, it shows up in their silence.”
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“We’re also not naïve and [we’re] being very intentional in looking to see if there are some obvious emotions that may be happening where young people may need to seek out direct help or individual help.”
Johnson said staffers have been taking the initiative to actively ask students how they are feeling, through talking in small groups, journaling, or simply having students circle words on a worksheet.
A team of counselors with the School District of Philadelphia’s crisis response team remains at the school. Once those counselors leave, Johnson said, Overbrook has its own team consisting of a clinical social worker, a case manager and a family specialist to help students cope.
Johnson told her students as they returned to class Monday that gun violence should never be considered normal. Students need to know they have support, though, when violence occurs.
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“We are in a society where we have to navigate those things,” Johnson said.
“I think what makes them feel more comfortable is the fact that they have adults who are walking the walk with them, who understand what they’re struggling with and who can support them and give then strategies to continue to be resilient.”
“Our young people will have to learn, and continue to learn, how do they navigate in a society that requires them to move along in their life?” she added. “Coming to school and being part of the school community is one of those things that they’re learning to navigate.”