In case you haven’t heard, on Thursday, October 15, a school shooting took place at Silver Rail Elementary School in Bend, Oregon. A 16-year-old former student, Griffin J. John II, opened fire inside a special education classroom, killing three children, ages 5, 8, and 11, and a 25-year-old teacher, Megan Lambert. He also injured a 7-year-old student and a 54-year-old teacher. The shooting ended when a parent of two students at the school, Kaylub Giamanco, intervened and fatally shot the gunman.
I found out about the shooting when I got home from work. As a pre-K teacher, the news used to scare me. Unfortunately, it’s something I’ve become numb to. I’ve experienced a lockdown myself at a school where I used to work as a substitute teacher because it was believed there was a dangerous situation nearby.
Later, I scrolled on TikTok when videos about the shooting popped up on my For You Page. That’s when I learned that the shooter had fired through the glass of the school’s locked entrance doors to get inside, and then he entered a special education classroom.
Not just any special education classroom, but a classroom similar to the one he himself had attended as a child.
When I found this out, my head snapped up. Because this hits home.
I have an older autistic brother, and I have my master’s degree in special education. From firsthand experience, I knowwhat to expect in a self-contained classroom. Not only do you have vulnerable students, but some may also be impulsive, have difficulty communicating their needs, or struggle to understand what’s happening around them. Some can be very loud, especially when they feel overwhelmed or stressed.
I worked in special education for years before heading down a different career path. One thing that was always in the back of my mind was: What would happen if we ever had a school shooting? What would we do?
My students couldn’t necessarily sit quietly. They couldn’t always sit still. I worked in one of the more behaviorally challenging classrooms, where you might try to talk a student through a situation and they end up screaming, kicking, biting, or even throwing a chairat you.
Some students might get stuck in the hallway or end up in full view of the window in the classroom door.
What do you do then?
I also remember worrying about my brother at school if we ever had a lockdown. He was relatively quiet at school, but he could be loud at times, especially when everyone else was stressed. One scream or unexpected sound could draw attention to a classroom and potentially put everyone inside at risk.
So, I’m sure you can imagine the terror special education teachers in self-contained classrooms feel at the thought of this happening in their own rooms. We’ve all thought about what we would do, how we would keep our students safe, and how we would respond if something like this ever happened.
Some of the things we might have to consider are the complete opposite of what you would normally expect us to do as educators.
It’s terrifying.
I am so incredibly angry about this shooting. I’ve been angry about the others in the past, but this one hits way too close to home.
This shooter, this pathetic human being, attended the school himself. He knew the building, and he knew where to go. He entered the school and targeted a classroom full of vulnerable children.
Children who may not be able to communicate what they’re feeling in the same way others can. Kids who may not fully understand what’s happening around them. Children who depend on the adults in their lives to protect them.
To do that to anyone, let alone a classroom full of children with disabilities? I don’t have the words.
And the shooter was just 16 years old.
Reports indicate that his mother had purchased the shotgun he used in the shooting. A child that young had access to a weapon that ultimately ended the lives of four innocent people.
Sixteen.
If you want guns, that’s your choice and your right. However, I truly believe we need stricter gun laws, and by no means should a teenager have easy access to a firearm without serious safeguards in place.
Why are we putting weapons in the hands of children? Why are we making it possible for a teenager to access a gun and use it to carry out something so horrific?
That’s one of the things I can’t get past.
This shooting, along with so many others, raises the question of how much of this we could have prevented. We cannot undo what happened, but we can take a hard look at how a teenager gained access to a firearm and what needs to change to prevent another tragedy.
Now, I’m scared that this could cause a domino effect. I’m scared that another person will see what happened and decide to do the same thing somewhere else. And I’m scared for the children who will go to school tomorrow, the teachers who will stand in front of their classrooms, and the special education staff who will continue doing their jobs while carrying these fears with them.
And I hate that this is something I can’t fix on my own.
We can’t keep letting this happen. We can’t.
Our children deserve to feel safe at school. Teachers deserve to do their jobs without having to plan for the possibility of someone shooting them. And children with disabilities deserve the same protection, dignity, and safety as every other child.
Their lives matter. Their safety matters. And their futures matter.
We cannot keep treating these tragedies as just another news story before moving on to the next one.
Say their names.
Megan Lambert, 25-year-old teacher.
Rhoam Summer, 5-year-old student.
The shooter also killed two other children, ages 8 and 11. Their names have not yet been publicly released in the reporting I found. They deserve to be remembered, too.
And we must remember the two people the shooter injured and the families, classmates, educators, and community members whose lives have been changed forever.
I’m so angry.
And you should be, too.
