Education summit focuses on violence

By Earl Sneed

Published: June 16, 2006

The April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building forced Oklahomans to cope with the aftermath in various ways, and Frances Leonard uses the events to teach students about conflict resolution and bullying.

Leonard, who was teaching the day she lost her brother in the bombing, is a teacher at Sequoyah Middle School in Edmond. She joined 34 educators from Oklahoma and 12 from across the country at the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum's sixth annual Education Summit this week.

"I've done the summits for four years," she said. "I think it is a part of the healing process, and if I can help educate students on conflict resolution, then it helps."

Prevention sought
In the second year of offering the program to educators, the museum assists teachers on how to inform students of the impact of violence, ways to make the world safer and how to apply the events of the bombing into classroom curriculum, said Lynne Roller, deputy director of the museum.

"The overall lessons we want to teach are personal responsibility and the prevention of violence," Roller said. "Somebody knew that Timothy McVeigh was planning something. Choosing not to tell authorities was an issue of personal responsibility, and that can eliminate violence."

The educators go through a four-day series of workshops and sessions dedicated to assist each other on the proper way to address the issues of terrorism and violence in the classroom. Meggin Wentzell, of Alloway, N.J., shares her experience with the others on teaching students about the tragedy after the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I'm definitely going to take this experience back to my neighborhood, and use it when teaching about violence and bullying," Wentzell said.

"I applaud the efforts of the people and community of Oklahoma City. It really does take a village to raise a child, and the Oklahoma City community is coming together to educate students and to rebuild after tragedy."

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