Across the nation, parents, teachers, students, and more have been rocked by the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, resulting in the death of 19 students and two adults.
Yusuf Abdullah, the principal at Patrick Henry High school in Minneapolis, and Antuan Harris, the assistant principal at Park Center High School, joined News Talk 830 WCCO’s Henry Lake to share how they are dealing with the tragedy within their own schools.
After watching the death toll continue to rise and finding out more about what happened at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Adbullah shared that it was difficult going to work the next day.
“I thought I was alright, but I wasn’t,” Abdullah said.
While he usually gets into work early, on Wednesday, he took his time and came in a little later. Despite trying to put on a brave face, he shared that his teachers could see the emotional toll the events took on him, and he could see the pain his students and teachers felt.
On Wednesday, Abdullah was set to give the morning announcements, and despite feeling like he had to say something, he struggled to find the words.
“I got myself into this zone of ‘What am I gonna say after this tragedy,’” Abdullah said. “What words can I put out there?”
The last two years in education have not been easy, and Harris shared that after tragedies like this, it’s difficult for educators, parents, and students to continue, but they have to.
“As any other tragedy when it comes to gun violence is really difficult,” Harris said. “Having our students, our parents, our faculty, the administration, we all try to maintain a balance between focusing on school but also taking care of each other from a mental aspect.”
While the shooting did not happen in his school or even his state, its effect on all in education is significant, and Abdullah thinks it is important to not gloss over what happened but instead be there for those who need help as we all go through this.
“Sometimes we just try to sweep things under the rug, and we try to just bulldoze,” Abdullah said.
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Harris agreed and said that knowing how those around you are feeling is just as vital as any other aspect of their job.
“We have to communicate on a regular basis,” Harris said.
Being administrators, Abdullah and Harris are in charge of everything in their buildings, but they know that their teachers have an even harder job answering tough questions and working to make students feel safe after tragedies like this one-on-one.
When it comes to the struggle that parents are dealing with, Abdullah shared he spent an hour with one parent the day after the shooting reassuring their child’s safety and just being there for them.
Harris shared that after hearing and having conversations with students, he knows that sometimes the ball is dropped on individuals who need support, leading to tragedies like this.
“We’re not doing enough to help these young men and young women on a regular basis, and it’s creating massive things that happen that hurt us all,” Harris said.
Even though there may not be one answer to solving the issue of gun violence in America and stopping tragedies like this from happening, Abdullah says that building relationships and knowing those around you, partnered with stricter gun laws, will help make us all safer.
“Everybody needs somebody, and if we’re not paying attention to the people around us and recognizing the help that they need and providing them with services, then we might miss the opportunity to be able to support a person who is battling mental health,” Abdullah said. “I just say, love relationships, stick together. But we got to keep moving forward. We can’t stop now. We got to keep moving forward for the sake of the young people that we are here to educate.”
Harris echoed this, saying that the number one priority has to be “making sure we all get home safe every single day. Our babies, our students, and us as educators.”
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