School, Police and City Officials Host Forum in New London in the Wake of Texas Shooting

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NEW LONDON — Rabbi Marc Ekstrand stood in the C.B. Jennings Elementary School library at a community forum on Tuesday and asked the approximately 30 attendees a simple question: “How is everyone feeling?”

“Exhausted.”

“Frustrated.”

“Confused.”

The forum, which included officials in the New London Public Schools, the police department and other city departments, as well as a handful of community members, was coordinated in response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, in which a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school.

Ekhart, Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Waterford, and who has twins that attend Winthrop STEM Elementary Magnet School, said that despite the distance between Uvalde and Connecticut, the shooting felt close to home. He pointed out that the Uvalde shooting happened at a school, which often acts as a central hub for local families, and provides people with much more than just an education for their children.

“We really have to start speaking about the things that go on in our households that scare us,” said Nolan. 

“It attacked our sense of community,’ said Ekhart.

State Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, said he had gotten numerous calls from parents asking how to speak with their children about the recent shooting, and how the city was planning to keep their children safe.

Nolan encouraged parents to listen to and talk with their children so that they weren’t left getting erroneous information from their peers. He also said that the community needed to break the culture of silence often found in families experiencing difficulties. 

“We really have to start speaking about the things that go on in our households that scare us,” said Nolan.

Public Safety 

The New London public school officials and Police Chief Brian Wright shared information about safety measures being taken by the city and the school district. 

Kate McCoy, assistant superintendent for Magnet Pathways and District Operations of New London Public Schools, said that the district has an “anonymous alert” system that students in grades 5 and up can use to report issues such as bullying.

McCoy said that students are taught how to use the system, and the administration’s Core Safety Team can communicate back and forth with the students who send alerts. She said that her team is notified immediately when an issue occurs at the school building, and that they are in direct contact with the police department.

McCoy also said that the school buildings have a system that monitors who enters and exits the building, as well as one that monitors the websites that students are visiting on their devices.

Wright said that the police department was working on expanding their outreach to young people, including starting a Youth Police Academy in the fall for children to learn more about policing. He said that officers were visiting a different school each week to meet with students — he called it “High Five Fridays” — and holding “milk and cookie” events to encourage a dialogue with students and school staff. 

Wright said the department was also planning to acquire a therapy dog, and piloting a program that would have social workers accompany police to certain mental health calls, who can then follow up afterward. He told CT Examiner that this would offer options to the people that they serve in the community.

“Why band-aid an issue when you can solve an issue?” he asked.

Nolan told CT Examiner about several state laws he wanted to see passed by the legislature involving firearms, that would close loopholes for owning “assault” weapons, require better background checks, make domestic violence convictions an automatic disqualifier for owning a weapon, require people who have guns to carry an ID and allow police to question them about having a permit.

Nolan said he believed the governor should call a special session to address these issues.

Mental Health 

In addition to safety measures, school officials also spoke about the mental health support available for students. Carrie Rivera, assistant director for mental health at New London Public Schools, said that the district has counselors, psychologists, social workers and wellness interventionists who can provide one-on-one counseling, group counseling and certain types of behavioral therapy. She said the district also supports staff members through a confidential counseling program. 

Members of the community offered additional suggestions.

Kyle, a community member who attended the event, suggested that students be taught to recognize signs of mental illness. Another community member, Matt, said that students should learn about the different types of mental health diagnoses in a class, possibly at the high school level. Both men identified themselves as being from Sound Community Services and said they had a mental illness.

“If you see something, say something – we should be taught to know what we’re looking at. And then, that way, maybe we can help out that kid from doing something devastating,” said Kyle.

Superintendent of schools Cynthia Ritchie said that the district had just brought in a therapy dog – Duke — and that they were partnering with a foundation that offered music therapy.

“Someday our dream … is to not have the police respond at all to mental health crises,” said Milstein. “We’re not there yet. We don’t have the resources we need in our communities or in our state or in our country because you know, mental health has never been a priority.”

But Ritchie said she was concerned about what would happen when the federal coronavirus funds  supporting these projects run out in two years.

Jeanne Milstein, the director of human services in New London, said that there were resources in the city available not just to deal with the need for therapists and clinicians, but also to help parents whose children might want to engage in extracurricular activities like horseback writing or cooking classes.

She also highlighted the navigator program, which partners individuals recovering from substance abuse with peers who can help them tackle everyday challenges.

“Someday our dream … is to not have the police respond at all to mental health crises,” said Milstein. “We’re not there yet. We don’t have the resources we need in our communities or in our state or in our country because you know, mental health has never been a priority.”

Eckhart said that the houses of worship were always available for people who wanted to speak, but that there were other places that the conversations could happen as well.

“Our feelings are extremely important. We need to talk about those things. And you have places that you can talk about them — not only in synagogues and churches, but also in coffee shops and all the places that we gather. When our community feels attacked we need to have places where we can come together,” said Eckhart.


Emilia Otte

Emilia Otte covers health and education for the Connecticut Examiner. In 2022 Otte was awarded "Rookie of the Year," by the New England Newspaper & Press Association.

e.otte@ctexaminer.com