I come from a family of teachers. My Dad was a English and history teacher, and later, a high school principal. My Mom taught high school Polish and English. My sister taught junior high, one brother taught high school, and one brother taught college students.
I am the black sheep. I knew growing up that I never wanted to teach, because, for good teachers, it is a very emotionally, mentally, and physically demanding job. No one has more respect for teachers than I do.
Now, it may even be a life threatening job. The list of school shootings is much too long. Below is a short list of some of the heroic teachers who have faced active shooters. Some are still with us, some are not.
Apr 20, 1999- Littleton, CO- Columbine High School: 12 students and 1 teacher died; 21 injured
Coach + computer/business teacher Dave Sanders—
His students said he was a teacher, a friend, a mentor and an inspiration. When the gunmen started firing outside the school he ran to the cafeteria and sounded the alarm. He, along with two of the school's janitors, helped get more than 100 students out of the path of danger by herding them away from the shooters. He saved untold numbers of lives that day.
By the time the gunmen arrived, the cafeteria was nearly empty thanks to him. He was in the upstairs hall trying to get students safely hidden in classrooms when he was shot from behind by Eric Harris…. He managed to get himself into a science lab where he bled to death waiting for help. www.acolumbinesite.com/...
March 14, 2006- Reno, NV- Pine Middle School: 3 students injured.
Phys Ed teacher Jencie Fagan—
A Nevada gym teacher who risked her own life to stop a 14-year-old student who allegedly was shooting his classmates is being called a hero, but Jencie Fagan says any mother would have done the same thing...
"As soon as I came to the doors of the cafeteria from the gym, he discharged the weapon once and I looked at what was going on," Fagan said. Police say [the shooter] managed to get off three shots... Both students are doing fine.
Fagan persuaded [him] to put down the gun, then held [him] in a "bear hug" until other teachers arrived to help. "He tossed the gun down, and then I hugged him, and I told him I wouldn't leave him," Fagan said. abcnews.go.com/...
Apr 16, 2007- Blacksburg, Virginia- Virginia Tech: 32 students and teachers died; 17 students and faculty wounded.
Engineering Professor and Holocaust survivor Liviu Librescu—
Panic quickly took hold of the class as students began to scream and turn over desks for shelter. Librescu knew better. He shouted for his students to kick out the window screens and jump for safety as he used his body to block the door. As many as 15 students were saved before the 23-year-old English major was able to overcome the 76-year-old professor by shooting him through the door. Librescu died there in his classroom while most of his students jumped out of the windows to safety.
To me, self-sacrifice is the most heroic action that anyone could ever perform. It encompasses the knowledge that the person(s) being saved will come out alive and the person who is sacrificing themself will not live to hug their children, move forward in their career, or create any more memories with their loved ones. Liviu cared so much for his students that he knew his family would understand why he chose to do what he did. myhero.com/...
Feb. 23, 2010- Littleton, CO- Deer Creek Middle School- 2 students injured.
Middle School math teacher David Benke—
During emergency drills at Deer Creek Middle School, teacher David Benke used to tell his students that if anything ever happened, he wanted to be able to "do something about it." When he saw a man shooting at students as they were leaving the Littleton, Colorado, school on Tuesday, "What was going through my mind," Benke said, "was that I promised."
Benke tackled the gunman, who had shot and wounded two students, and with the help of another teacher and some bus drivers, was able to hold him until police arrived.
"I noticed that he was working a bolt-action rifle," he said. "I noticed that and realized that I had time to get him before he could chamber another round. Still”, Benke told reporters Wednesday, "it bothers me that I was a little bit late. It bothers me that he got the second shot off and struck a second student.” www.cnn.com/...
Sept 7, 2012- Normal, Illinois- Normal Community High School. No injuries.
First year high school teacher, Derrick Schonauer—
A 14-year-old Normal Community High School student brought a loaded handgun to school Friday morning, fired multiple shots into the ceiling of a classroom and briefly detained several classmates before being tackled and disarmed by a teacher and students...
Parent Mike Egenes called the teacher, Derrick Schonauer, a hero.
Egenes’ daughter was in the first-hour health class when the shots were fired.
“The kids were resilient, but he saved my kid and about 28 others in that room,” Egenes said. “I don’t know what he saw or when he saw it, but when he found the opportunity, he took action and I am so grateful to know that he would put himself on the line like that to save those kids. He’s a first-year teacher and this is his 12th day on the job. In my eyes, he ranks up there with those passengers on Flight 93 on 9/11. He’s a hero...I hugged the man... My wife hugged him twice.” www.pantagraph.com/…
Dec 14, 2012- Newtown, CT- Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting: 20 children, 6 adults died.
Principal Dawn Hochsprung—
School Psychologist Mary Sherlach—
1st Grade teacher Victoria Soto—
Special Ed teacher Anne Marie Murphy—
Behavioral Therapist Rachel D'Avino—
Substitute Kindergarten teacher Lauren Rousseau—
Hochsprung heard the loud pop. She, school psychologist Mary Sherlach and Vice Principal Natalie Hammond went to investigate. They were acting as the first line of protection and paid heavily for it. Only Hammond returned from the hallway alive -- but not unscathed. Along with Hochsprung, 47, and Sherlach, 56, four teachers perished.
Victoria Soto, 27, moved her first-grade students away from the classroom door. The gunman burst in and shot her, according to the father of a surviving student.
Anne Marie Murphy's body was found in a classroom, slumped over young children killed in the shooting. The 52-year-old special education teacher was apparently attempting to shield them, her father told the newspaper Newsday...
Rachel D'Avino, 29, was a behavioral therapist who worked with autistic children. D'Avino's boyfriend was going to propose to her on Christmas Eve. Lauren Rousseau, 30, had dreamed of being a teacher since before she went to kindergarten herself. She had been hired only last month by Sandy Hook and was substituting for a teacher on maternity leave.
Feb 14, 2018- Parkland, Florida- Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 14 students, 3 teachers died.
Geography teacher Scott Beigel—
Beigel, a geography teacher, was killed as he tried to usher students back into his classroom when the shooting broke out. Kelsey Friend, one of Beigel's students, told CNN in an emotional interview that he was shot outside the classroom door and that he saved her life.
"Mr. Beigel was my hero and he still will forever be my hero. I will never forget the actions that he took for me and for fellow students in the classroom," she said. "I am alive today because of him."
Football coach, Aaron Feis—
Feis, an assistant football coach, was killed when he threw himself in front of students to protect them from oncoming bullets...
"He died the same way he lived -- he put himself second," [spokeswoman Denis Lehtio] said. "He died a hero." Colton Haab, a 17-year-old junior who had a close relationship with Feis, told CNN he saw the coach running toward the sounds of gunshots.
My brother, who recently retired from teaching high school, never had to face a school shooter. While he was actively teaching, he did talk openly and frankly with his wife about the possibility— acknowledging that if his students were in danger, he would do whatever he could, regardless of the cost, to try to save them.
Every teacher I know has this conversation now with their spouse and family.
I stand with the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students.
This is not normal. This is not acceptable. We must fight for change, including rational gun safety laws. For them. For us. For our country.