Joplin R-8 Assistant Superintendent Steve Doerr recounted the Oct. 7 shooting at Memorial Middle School, while other speakers presented a realistic view of what teachers will face once they are in the trenches:
Steve Doerr was at Joplin's Memorial Middle School in October when a student wearing camouflage walked in and pointed what looked like an AK-47 assault rifle at the head of another student.
Doerr, the Joplin School District assistant superintendent, didn't think the gun was real and asked the student to drop the weapon and go to the principal’s office.
The 13-year-old then pointed the gun at the ceiling and fired, the bullet breaking a water pipe.
"I was probably only about 10 feet away from him when he fired the gun. I saw smoke come out of that barrel," Doerr told an audience of prospective teachers yesterday at a school violence forum at the University of Missouri-Columbia. "Believe me, your perspective on life quickly changes."
The student then pointed the gun at Principal Steve Gilbreth's head and tried to fire, but the weapon locked up. Doerr ducked into a classroom and called 911. Police arrived and arrested the teen, averting a potential tragedy. "We were fortunate," Doerr said. "For whatever reason, God chose not to let anybody get hurt that day, and we thank the Lord for that."
The full spectrum of what goes on in the schools was presented:
Independence Police Department School Resource Officer Don Fowler had trouble saying how many violent acts he’d seen in schools because they were too numerous.
"Bomb threats? Too many to count. Fights? Sorry, too many to count. Kids selling drugs in the school? I can't count that; too many," he said. "I hate to say that because teaching is a great profession. Don't go away from here today thinking, ‘Oh my God, what did I get into?’ "
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