DALLAS -- On August 20, 2013, in Atlanta, Georgia, Antoinette Tuff was sitting at the front desk of Ronald McNair Discovery Learning Academy. She worked as a bookkeeper but was filling in for office staff.
Michael Brandon Hill, 20, walked in with an AK-47, almost 500 rounds of ammunition and a plan to kill. But Tuff, who now splits her time living in Dallas and Atlanta, talked Hill out of the tragedy.
“It was the only school shooting in the nation that had no fatalities or injuries because I was able to talk him down,” Tuff said.
Hill fired his rifle in the air multiple times while in the office with Tuff, but the bullets did not hit either one of them. More than 800 students and staff members were in the school at the time. No one was hurt.
“All I saw was a young man standing there, crying out for help,” said Tuff, adding that her faith guided her through. “Our kids today are no different crying out than that gunman was on August 20, 2013.”
Tuff went on to write a book and launch a mentoring program for troubled youth.
She believes the key to preventing another school shooting means answering cries for help when they’re barely loud enough to hear, which is difficult, considering all the responsibilities that fall on school employees’ shoulders.
“It’s an impossible task, what teachers are asked to do in the U.S. and in Texas particularly,” said David Lee, a teacher at Bryan Adams High School in the Dallas Independent School District.
Lee said he wants to protect his students as much as he wants to protect his family. So, while teaching them and preparing them for testing, he is also getting to know them, counseling them and stepping in when needed.
“We’re asked to do so many things, but it’s a labor of love and I care deeply about the students and that’s the only way you can do it,” Lee said. “It’s a selfless act. It has to be. It is overwhelming. There are points where every teacher who is really committed asks themselves, ‘Can I keep doing this?’"
In the 40-page school safety plan unveiled Wednesday, Gov. Greg Abbott makes better mental health screening in schools a priority. But the struggle is putting that initiative, and all the others, in place without burdening teachers or districts.
“If we really want to address safety, then we need to address funding, make sure class sizes are reasonable and that we have enough staff to really engage with the students,” Lee said.
State Sen. Don Huffines, R-Dallas, was appointed to the state committee that will study violence in schools and offer solutions. He acknowledged there is a growing burden on teachers, but added that he believes the committee will come up with a funding solution that will allow the state to ultimately implement multiple strategies.
“We spend almost $60 billion annually on education, and I am confident that we’ll find the funds necessary to protect our students,” he said