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What is life like in a school where half of the children have a parent in a combat zone? What can a teacher do to comfort a child whose mother or father has just deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and at the same time stay focused on the “letter of the week” or the writing lesson of the day?

And then there is the toughest question: When a 7 year old asks, ‘Will my Daddy die?’ or ‘Will my Mommy come home safe?’, how should a teacher respond?

We went to McNair Elementary — a Department of Defense school in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to find out.

This program was the recipient of a Telly Award, as well as a Second Place EWA award. Watch it in two parts below.

Download transcript (PDF)

This program is made possible by the following funders:
Grade Level Reading Fund of the Tides Foundation, The Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki Foundation, The Wallace Foundation, and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

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