People embrace outside the Alamo Gym where students and parents wait to reunite following a shooting at Santa Fe High School Friday, May 18, 2018, in Santa Fe, Texas. ( Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle via AP)
Yet another deadly school shooting, this one at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, Texas, thirty miles outside Houston, has claimed at least ten lives – eight students and two educators – after the suspected shooter, a 17-year-old student, went on a rampage inside the school this morning before classes began. A second person of interest has been detained and the police are searching the campus for explosive devices.
The shooting comes just three months after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting where a former student killed 17 people, sparking a student-led gun control movement and a series of national protests where thousands demonstrated to end gun violence.
Texas State Teachers Association President Noel Candelaria and National Education Association President Lily Eskelsen García provided the following joint statement in reaction to the shooting:
“Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and loved ones of the victims in today’s shooting at Santa Fe High School. The members and staff of the Texas State Teachers Association and the National Education Association stand ready to assist the Santa Fe community in any way that we can.
“Once again, we are mourning more senseless shooting deaths. But even as we mourn, we redouble our efforts to convince our elected representatives in Washington and Austin to take every necessary step to keep our schools, students, and educators safe from gun violence.
“We don’t know why this attack occurred. But every child has the right to feel safe and be safe at school, and every parent has the right to know their neighborhood schools are safe places to send their children.”
NEA Crisis Guide
NEA maintains a crisis resource page for students, educators, parents, and communities at nea.org/safeschools.
The page includes advice for talking to students about violent tragedies, as well as tips for preventing school violence.
Also included is NEA’s School Crisis Guide, which NEA assembled to foster the creation of crisis teams with the ideas, tips, tools, and resources that spur effective leadership and crisis management.
Knowing what to do in a crisis can be the difference between stability and upheaval. This step-by-step resource created by educators for educators can make it easier for union leaders, school district administrators, and principals to keep schools safe—before, during, and after a crisis.
Download NEA's School Crisis Guide (PDF)
