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Rethinking the value of heroic teachers


Two teachers in the fourth-grade wing at Robb Elementary on May 24 gave their lives for their students. Irma Garcia and Eva Mireles put themselves between the gunman and children, holding out their arms to fend off the bullets and pleading for life. Garcia was shot 11 times; and Mireles, at least three. That doesn’t happen unless you are resisting the attacker.

Other teachers, who weren’t required to forfeit their lives, also acted heroically. They are the educators in the remaining eight classrooms, two of whom were severely injured. Those who remained mobile guided children to hiding places, held them tight, prayed with them, told them they loved them, while gunshots echoed in the hallway and in some cases blasted holes in the windows and walls of their rooms. Nor was that the end of it. The same teachers escaped with their students to Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home, where the women continued to protect and calm terrified 9- and 10-year-olds. Parents, frantically banging and pulling on doors, sent spasms of terror through the 100 children who sheltered there. Their teachers held firm.

Even then, there was more to do. The same educators boarded buses and rode with their students to reunification with parents at the civic center. Once there, the teachers continued to shelter and calm children while yet another threat circulated – the attacker’s girlfriend was rumored to be coming to finish the job. The sound of low-circling helicopters added to the state of fear.

No one commanded the teachers to take the measures they took. Their reactions were spontaneous, because that is what educators do, especially in an elementary school – educate and nurture. They are almost inseparable.

The problem today is that many of these same teachers need help. They suffer from PTSD – anxiety, depression – all maladies engendered by living through a life-threatening event. And while there has been some compensation to address their needs, the funds have fallen short of what is called for.

One teacher said she received enough money to cover two months of expenses – modest ones at that. And no additional sick days were added to her ledger. The teacher visits a psychiatrist at least monthly. Money comes from her workers’ comp, but it is inadequate. The former Robb teachers, who suffered the most trauma, earlier this month asked the district for five mental health days through the end of the school year. That’s one day a month to tend to their healing. They got two.

After the school shooting at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, teachers received 10 additional mental health days (one per month). That was almost five years ago, and their school administration continues to guarantee a modicum of time to heal minds upended by violence.

The Uvalde school district expected Robb teachers to return to their posts within four months of the most savage attack on a public school in our state’s history. Not only fourth-grade teachers but those teaching other grades who actually lost children in the shooting.

We hope district administrators and school board trustees will re-evaluate what support should look like for these teachers. Money is always tight, but surely there is some cushion left from the millions that flowed into the community after May 24. The service the educators rendered deserves more from us.