OCALA, Fla. – In the wake of the deadly school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, a group of current and former school principals who experienced shootings on their campuses are demanding action.
“To every elected leader at every level of government, you have a duty to do everything it takes to prevent our kids and educators from being murdered in school,” members of the Principal Recovery Network wrote in a letter recently published in the Washington Post.
The support group, comprised of nearly two dozen educators associated with schools where shootings have occurred, said its membership keeps growing despite being “a club that no one wants to join.”
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“The tragedy at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, was the 27th school shooting this year and one of hundreds since the massacre at Columbine High School 23 years ago,” the letter states. “These horrific acts have compelled us to speak out. They compel us to act.”
Members of the Principal Recovery Network include representatives from Columbine High School, Sandy Hook Elementary School, and Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School.
Another member, Elizabeth Brown, is the principal of Forest High School in Ocala.
In 2018, shortly before Brown arrived at the school, a 19-year-old former student used a guitar case to smuggle a shotgun into Forest High.
Sky Bouche is serving a 30-year prison sentence for injuring a student by firing a round through a door and striking the teen’s ankle.
“Time and time again, we have come to you to prevent future shootings. If you don’t act now, this will happen again,” the group’s letter states. “We beg you: Do something. Do anything. This is a bipartisan issue. Protect our students. Protect our educators. Protect our schools. Violence extends well beyond our campuses. We ask you to act and to do the right thing — protect our communities.”