This has been a difficult week at Oakton High School.Last weekend, one of our students was killed in a terrible automobile accident with another of our students at the wheel. The boy who died had an older brother in the senior class, so many felt connected to one of the three.

Even those who, like me, knew none of them were affected by the wave of grief that rolled through the halls. Four years ago, two students were killed as they waited for a light to turn on the very first day of school. One had spent more than three hours in my classroom that day, and his class was never the same from that moment on. His shadow remained.

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