Violence in educational institutions compounds and accumulates in our collective memory, as school shootings have become a ubiquitous phenomenon. When a young man carrying three guns entered Dawson College in Montréal, the downtown core came to a standstill. As bullets sprayed and ricocheted, one young woman was killed, 19 others wounded, and a community of 10,000 students, teachers, and staff were traumatized. This research employed a qualitative methodology, interviewing 10 senior administrators and managers in-depth. Findings document the salient role grief leadership played in restoring balance and an educational focus in the wake of a shooting on campus and served to reshape the community into one of learning, resilience, and courage. It details specific actions taken by administrators, which promoted healing and re-established equilibrium at a site of grief, loss, and terror. Administrative responses proved essential in helping to re-establish thriving at Dawson College.
TopBackground
Far from being an unusual occurrence, school shootings are becoming more prominent (see Reilly, 2020). Casualties are not limited to those who are killed or injured; entire communities composed of students, staff, and faculty, as well as their families and friends, are impacted by these traumatic events. Research (Connolly, 2004; Reilly & D’Amico, 2002) suggests that individuals may not necessarily bounce back from traumatic events but could be at risk for decreased functioning in psychological, educational, and socio-emotional areas (Cicchetti & Lynch, 1993; Hilarski, 2004). Generally, the literature focuses on mental health strategies to help students, staff, and faculty to individually heal from trauma. There is little evidence in how a school, as a whole system, can regain a liveable balance and an educational focus after a fatal shooting and the salient role that school administrators can play.
Fein (2001) and Fein and Isaacson (2009) found that school leaders were deeply affected by school shootings, both emotionally and physically. They coped by drawing on their training and past experiences; finding sustenance in their spiritual beliefs and positive self-talk; focusing on tasks; collaborating, establishing and maintaining boundaries; using humour; sharing their experiences; leaving the district in which the shooting occurred; and performing symbolic acts. Most described engaging in emotion work, i.e. conscious attempts to evoke or suppress specific feelings in relation to the social context in which they found themselves (Hochschild, 1990). They would consciously cover up some “inappropriate” feelings (fear) or feign inauthentic feelings (decisiveness) to comply with role expectations (surface acting). They often described this as putting on their game face. In contrast to adopting a façade, some leaders found effectiveness by fully experiencing and feeling certain emotions (deep acting). Participants described deep acting as going into professional mode.
School leaders felt a high degree of responsibility for restoring order and for easing the pain and suffering they witnessed. However, researchers had little to say with regards to the concrete strategies these leaders enacted to restore the school community to a liveable balance. Though some strategies to avert school shootings and keep schools safe have been elaborated (Barton, 2009; Cornell & Williams, 2006; Daniels et al., 2010; Gajda, 2002), appropriate leadership actions in the aftermath must be delineated.
TopThis Inquiry
Methodology
This project employed a qualitative methodology, which is more conducive to understanding the meaning attributed by participants to events and how context influences and affects action, while also identifying unanticipated phenomena (Maxwell, 2013). A cross-case comparative approach (Merriam, 1998) was used since it is flexible and adaptable in describing multiple realities; transferable to other contexts to build a foundation of description; and congruent with the ethics and values of trauma researchers (Connolly & Reilly, 2007; Riddell, 1989).