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Hurricane Katrina

Katrina provides real life lessons

Teachers are using the hurricane to teach myriad lessons, from compassion to earth science.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published September 16, 2005

Marjie Borrelli knew her third-grade students would give generously to victims of Hurricane Katrina.

But the extent of their generosity surprised her.

Austin Seepersad brought his blue piggy bank to school, where he broke it open and handed over the $25 in coins. Jordan Dalton, who was in Borrelli's class last year, stood on a street corner and sold Kool-Aid, netting another $64 that his mother matched.

"The best thing that kids can do in a situation like this is reach out and help others," said Borrelli, who teaches at Essrig Elementary School. "It gives them a feeling of being worthwhile instead of being helpless."

Like Borrelli, educators everywhere cannot deny the impact of the Gulf Coast disaster. The children in their care all day know that a hurricane could strike here too.

Teachers are endeavoring to reassure the children, while using the news events as a jumping off point for a variety of lessons. From Katrina, students have learned compassion, geography and earth science. (Borrelli likened the flooding to pouring milk in a cereal bowl.)

In an era of high-stakes standardized testing, educators also are coping with the stress and demands of storm victims in their midst. Some are newly enrolled in their schools; others have loved ones in Mississippi and Louisiana.

"I don't want this to consume them, because they have got to study," said Daniel Bonilla, the principal of Leto High School. "Yes, it's important to be aware of world affairs. But you have got to be able to detach."

Not unlike the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks and Florida's own 2004 hurricanes, the past month's events have inspired schools to look within themselves for ways to help.

"This is an invaluable opportunity to bring home a lesson for these kids," said Dan Domenech, a past president of the American Association of School Administrators who led the Fairfax, Va., school district during 9/11, the Virginia sniper scare and a hurricane.

"Children naturally are incredibly giving, and we're seeing that all over the country," Domenech said. "This is an opportunity to see the results of what they are doing."

The stories about Hurricane Katrina's wrath have dominated newspapers, television and radio. Pictures of ripped up homes, floating dead bodies and other potentially charged images have been out there for all, including children, to see.

Eighth-grader Rebecca Davis of Diamondhead, Miss., has fielded dozens of questions from new classmates at Davidsen Middle School, all of whom want to know what happened to her and her home.

Children want answers, said Kimberly Keenan, principal at Tampa Palms Elementary School, where even the kindergarteners know something is amiss.

"They definitely understand and, if anything, they're afraid it might happen here," Keenan said. Her youngest students helped the fifth-graders to decorate shoe boxes and fill them with toys and school supplies for children in Gulfport, Miss.

For students who can't shake the news of death and destruction, teachers call upon psychologists and other professionals.

Overall, administrators ask that teachers take the lead from their students, and help them feel empowered by teaching them hurricane preparation.

It helps if students can feel productive, as is the case with those assisting Katrina's victims.

Third-graders at Essrig formed the Hurricane Helpers to raise money for and write cards to survivors of Hurricane Katrina.

In Westchase, the community pulled together at Davidsen to collect truckloads of clothing, toiletries and other goods for storm evacuees, and assist families who arrived at the school's door.

Less affluent communities have been similarly generous. At Leto, students and faculty raised about $1,300 in less than a week.

"You'd be surprised how generous the kids and their parents are, and this isn't a rich community," said Carmen Aguero, principal of nearby Webb Middle School. She was able to assign one young storm victim to a teacher who came from the same small town.

Like Bonilla at Leto, Davidsen principal Rebecca Kaskeski wants to respond appropriately to the disaster without veering too far from the business of teaching.

Sometimes that means turning the discussions into deeper ones about what it means to be a citizen, or connecting the current disaster to past ones in a historical and political context.

Other times, it just means getting on with business, a recognition that school is supposed to be a place of routine where the distractions of the outside world can take a back seat.

Still, she said, teaching children to be good human beings is critical in times like this.

Davidsen eighth-grader Jenna Silvers said she got the message. She donated $30 of her own to the school relief drive.

"I like to feel like I've done something good," said Jenna, president of Davidsen's Student Advisory Council. "School teaches me to help out and if someone needs a hand, to lend it."

- Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 15, 2005, 11:02:11]