'Try to Find the Good in Each Day'

Schools Superintendent Dr. Lisa Dana says the Danvers High School community has taken some important steps on what will undoubtedly be a long healing process in the week since 24-year-old math teacher Colleen Ritzer was murdered, allegedly by one of her students.

Dana, in an email to families and school staff Wednesday, said that "when a tragedy like this occurs, everyone's sense of safety is compromised."

"As adults, we try to be strong for our children. When they ask the difficult questions, it is hard to acknowledge that there may not ever be any answers," she said. "To paraphrase a colleague, 'comfort, compassion and hope are the only counterweight to unimaginable tragedy.'"

But in the midst of that trauma and suffering, there have been many "acts of kindness," Dana said -- from high school students to parents, neighbors, other school districts and others who have no connection to Danvers.

She added that those steps toward healing were seen with students organizing a vigil that Wednesday, hundreds of students and faculty coming in to talk with grief counselors and hundreds of parents turning out for an informational meeting before school resumed.

"Our Danvers community is a strong one, and our staff and students are kind and resilient," said Dana. "As we continue to honor Ms. Ritzer’s memory, please try to find the good in each day."

Dana said the goal in the days ahead is to keep routines as normal as possible for everyone. Administrators, counselors and other support staff will continue to be available for families (you can find more information on the DHS website) and as a matter of course, safety protocols will be reviewed and modified if needed.

Police Chief Neil Ouellette told news reporters last week that safety and security protocols are reviewed after any major incident and that would certainly be the case at Danvers High. Police did initially monitor activity at the school more closely on Friday as students returned to classes.

Authorities haven't publicly released any information at this time, but according to law enforcement sources, the surveillance footage they do have of Philip Chism shows the teen with a box cutter or craft knife he obtained inside the school with which he then used to murder Ritzer in a second-floor bathroom.

And all this apparently occurred sometime last Tuesday afternoon when there still would have been numerous people in the building. The footage also reportedly shows Chism removing Ritzer's body from the school in a recycling container.

Chism, 14, is charged with first-degree murder in Ritzer's death and is expected to be indicted soon by a grand jury, sending the case to superior court, where Chism will be tried as an adult.