Local Schools Handle Death of Terror Mastermind in Different Ways

It's what those in education call a "teachable moment."

A time when something happens they didn't plan for but becomes a perfect opportunity to shed some insight on an important topic. The assassination of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden Sunday provided just that for many local teachers.

Although most teachers approach a touchy subject like bin Laden's death a bit differently, most agreed that keeping political opinions from entering the discussion is important.

"I tell my students frequently that they have to use the information given in social studies and history to make their own judgments," said Oswego District 308 fifth-grade teacher Toni Morgan. "I cannot tell them what to think."

Morgan, who teaches at , said she used the news to discuss a quote from author Mark Twain, who said, "Let us live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry."

"I realized that this issue would be tricky with my fifth-graders, so I put this quote on the board," Morgan said.  "We read it.  After questions about the undertaker and funerals and cremation, we talked about why this person would or would not mourn our death.

"At the end, I asked what my students thought the quote meant about Osama bin Laden."

 Supt. Scott Wakeley also said it's important to keep personal feelings out of the discussions, which he said would most likely take place in history classes in the district.

“We’ve always taken the stance that we need to answer questions that kids have factually without giving opinions, biases or political beliefs," he said. "We know kids are going to have questions.”

Wakely also made it a point to clear up rumors found on Facebook that the district would close schools because of such an event.

"It’s amazing that we’ve had a couple people call and say 'We heard that you were going to cancel school because of this,'" he said. “That’s not happening. Sorry, kids, we’ll talk about it in class , make it a learning experience, but you’re not getting a day off class for it.”

Bin Laden’s death was not a topic of much discussion at Montgomery elementary schools.

Melissa Hinshaw, a fourth-grade teacher at , said her students came to class Monday morning knowing that bin Laden had died. But to them, she said, it was “just another news story.”

“These kids in fourth grade are 9 turning 10,” she said. “They were babies when 9/11 happened.  So their ability to connect bin Laden to that event or even world politics is limited.  Most do not even understand the enormity of 9/11 as we know it.  It is history to them, not a vivid event in their lifetime.”

Hinshaw said students in her class casually mentioned the news in conversation, but because it is so far outside the scope of the fourth-grade curriculum, she did not start a discussion on it.

Dave Brusak, principal of , said his experience was similar. Students at the elementary level don’t get involved with current events, he said, and the news is so fresh, they have not had time to process it.

Brusak said one teacher in the school used bin Laden as an example of someone notorious, when teaching that vocabulary word on Monday. But for the most part, he said, students at Lakewood Creek are not asking about it.