Sept. 11 Attacks Becoming a "Teachable Event," Bloomfield Principal Says

It has been nearly a decade since terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center, claiming the lives of 3,000 people and sending a shudder down the spines of Americans everywhere, particularly those in the tri-state area who have lived and worked so close to the disaster.

But it’s only within the last couple of years that the tragedy that affected so many New Jersey families is emerging not just as an event to grieve over, but to learn from, said Bloomfield High School Principal Chris Jennings.

“It’s really just now starting to come out as a teachable event rather than something we’re in mourning over,” Jennings said.

In an effort to give educators a framework to teach children of all grade levels about the Sept. 11 attacks, a new curriculum was released in July at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City that has been made available free of charge.

The curriculum – which includes age-appropriate lesson plans by grade – is titled “Learning from the Challenges of our Times: Global Security, Terrorism, and 9/11 in the Classroom.” The 4 Action Initiative, the group which developed the free curriculum, was a collaboration between Families of September 11, the Liberty Science Center, and the New Jersey Commission of Holocaust Education.

Any teaching about Sept. 11 in Bloomfield schools has generally been focused on the middle and high school levels with teachers collaborating to develop a lesson plan and taking a few days in September to discuss the attacks, said Jason Bing, superintendent of Bloomfield Public Schools.

Sensitivities may need to be considered depending on where a town is located and how closely affected its students were by the Sept. 11 attacks, Bing said. (In Bloomfield, three residents lost their lives in the attacks.) But, the available lesson plan will at least give schools a framework.

“I think there should be continuity across the state, (and) that will be a great help,” Bing said.

However, the new curriculum hasn’t been officially adopted by Bloomfield schools yet and likely won’t be put into full effect until September 2012, Bing said. The curriculum must first be adopted through the district’s curriculum committee, where any revisions can be made. Then, it must be approved by the school board before ultimately being initiated.

Bing said the new curriculum is not state mandated, “but I think a lot of districts will be taking that framework and sticking with it pretty closely,” he said.

Bloomfield resident Maria Rivas, who has two children beginning fifth and second grades in the district, agrees with a standard curriculum but has concerns about how such an event will be conveyed in the classroom, especially to younger students.

“I want to know, what message are we trying to teach them about this particular part of our U.S. history?” Rivas said. “How are (teachers) going to send that message?”

Rivas is especially concerned with how teachers will define a terrorist and doesn’t want her children to begin stereotyping one group of people.

Nevertheless, Rivas said, “I think (a curriculum) will be wonderful, and I think they need that. I just want to make sure that it’s closely monitored. That these teachers are going to teach it the right way.”