Schools
Wong: I Didn't Know of the 3 Sudbury Victims from September 11
Lincoln-Sudbury holds a moment of silence a day late.
Interim Superintendent/Principal Bella Wong tried to right a wrong today by having a moment of silence after the school failed to have any type of ceremony on Wednesday to honor the victims of the September 11 attacks.
When reached at school today, Wong said she didn't know of the direct impact that day had on Sudbury.
Peter Goodrich, Geoffrey Cloud and Cora Hidalgo Holland have a memorial dedicated to them at Heritage Park where the town has held annual gatherings on the anniversary of the attacks.
"I wasn't aware of it yesterday, but I'm aware now," she said. "I've done some checking this morning. I didn’t have the full information yesterday. It's unfortunate. It would have nice to have done this yesterday. But better than not at all."
Wong said many students voiced concerns to her today, and one even wrote a letter explaining her disappointment.
"This event deserves to be remembered," wrote Allison Greenberg. "It reminds us that we can rebuild, that life goes on after tragedy. By remembering, we give support to those who lost loved ones."Another student has started an online petition, telling the L-S administration a lack of acknowledgement is not acceptable.
"Through this petition, we, the students of Lincoln-Sudbury, wish to convey to you that it is NOT acceptable to simply move on from one of the greatest tragedies in American history," Greg Sachs wrote. "It is NOT acceptable to denote September 11th as just another day of the year. The lone counter-argument I can think of is that dwelling on this day is "letting our attackers win" because the goal of terrorism is to invoke fear and anguish. We recognize that this may be an appropriate argument, but in this case, the case of a tragedy of such magnitude, we believe that remembering those who were lost, honoring those who saved them and paying respect to their families is simply the best thing to do."
Wong issued the following in a morning statement to the school:
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Good Morning – This is Bella Wong, your Superintendent/Principal. As you know yesterday was the 12th anniversary of tragic events of 9/11/2001 and different from other years for you I had not offered a moment of silence. I received many emails through last evening from many of you, our students, that thoughtfully expressed how disappointed you were by that decision. While the events of 9/11 will remain a terrible memory for us always I was quite taken by your expressions of caring for the personal loss of others and wanting and needing to demonstrate a solidarity of support as a community. I am and you should also be quite proud of the thoughtful way many of you took care to express yourselves in a way that was poignant and respectful amidst the many emotions the memory of 9/11 can evoke. While I cannot turn back time I do offer you this opportunity, now, a day later, to take a moment to reflect on the events of 9/11 as a community. Let’s take a minute all together.
Many thanks to all of you and my best wishes to you on the rest of this day.
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