Westborough Schools Ready to Support Students, Staff

The Westborough public schools' crisis team is ready to support students and staff regarding the Boston Marathon tragedy, School Superintendent Marianne O'Connor said today.

The schools will start Monday with a moment of silence, she added.

Monday is Westborough's first day of school since the tragedy. The schools were on their annual spring break last week.

"Many in our community may have been personally affected by the Boston Marathon tragedy, and all of us have been impacted by the proximity of the week's events so close to home," O'Connor told families and staff in an e-mail this morning, which she also sent to Westborough Patch.

"Regardless of where you were last week, you could not have avoided the disturbing scenes played over and over through media coverage."

Each school and its website have resources to help parents talk to their children about such incidents, O'Connor added.

Parents should feel free to share concerns with their child's teacher or principal, she said.

O'Connor told Westborough Patch she was out of the country last Monday.

"The media coverage was amazing. We were kept informed of the events of the week within moments of things happening," O'Connor said.

"We knew about the marathon within 15 minutes of the event, well before our own son heard in CT. The entire week’s events were very well reported and professionally done."