Unfortunately, across the country, today’s teachers and students enter school grounds and have to conduct drills in active shooter scenarios. We didn’t have that scenario when I was a kid. Fortunately, my children survived school. I worked as an assistant at your school in the elementary grades.
I have noticed a pattern in the books I have read. Whenever a person is doing something good or innovative, there is always someone creating an obstacle, trying to close them and set them up for failure. I see it as jealousy. The good conquests in the end, but the person being tested endures some difficult things that must be overcome.
Kaitlin and her first grade class survived a horrendous massacre because there was a small bathroom in the room that they hid in and pushed a rolling cabinet in front of him like a disguise. Teachers and students in the next room and others died. The director and the counselor died while trying to attack the gunman.
I will not repeat here the stories of that day. Because of what Kaitlin witnessed, she thought of security features that could be implemented in the event of a future incident.
When the school reconvened in an old school building, it submitted its requests to the superintendent. The requests were denied. Kaitlin had also started putting in place some good projects to focus on positive action. One of the projects was for his former college professor to write a book with his class just for fun to distract them from what they had endured. The superintendent also said no.
One of the projects Kaitlin had started was to adopt another class in another state to do good deeds with her students. When good things started to happen, the superintendent made her leave without saying goodbye to her class and instructed her not to have contact with any of them.
One day, the mother of a boy whose family had another tragedy that occurred since the shooting asked him to join them at a restaurant because she thought he would be happy to see his teacher. The news reached the superintendent, who stated that Kaitlin had violated the terms.
The school year came to an end and the children were unable to finish the year with their teacher. He started getting hate mail from other teachers who didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes. They thought he had left their class.
During the summer, the parents in her class threw a party at one of their homes for Kaitlin and her children to get together. He married a few months later and focused on creating his nonprofit organization. I hope I will never face the same event and support your optimism.