The year marking the tragedy of
October 24, 2022 has come and gone, with many
key questions still unanswered. Answering
those nagging questions would bring our
community closer to a place of healing. The
trauma from a school shooting goes beyond the
epicenter; it reverberates widely. It often
triggers other traumatic memories that were
thought to be deeply buried or forgotten.
The Central Visual and
Performing Arts (CVPA) and Collegiate School
of Medicine and Bioscience (CSMB) communities
share a school building in St. Louis,
Missouri. Last year, Orlando Harris, a 2021
CVPA graduate, entered his former high school
armed with automatic weapons. Jean Kuczka, a
beloved staffer at both schools and
Alexzandria Bell, a vivacious CVPA student,
were gunned down by Harris. Several other
students were injured before Harris was
ultimately killed by St. Louis police.
There is still a lot to dissect,
and urban school districts around the country
will be looking our way for prevention and
recovery best practices. The insights
and experiences of Dr. Kacy Shahid are
particularly unique because St. Louis is a
school shooting trifecta: the shooter was an
African American teen in an urban public
school headed by an African American
principal. Shahid was the principal at the
time of the shooting and has a distinguished
career as an educator.
The fast action of first
responders in confining the human carnage on
that fateful day has been duly acknowledged.
However, the incident is far from being neatly
tied in a bow and put on a shelf. Trying to
move forward without acknowledging the harm of
such a horrific event is only adding to the
trauma.
There are three critical areas
that demand attention. They are coordination,
transparency and recovery.
It is difficult to truly be
prepared for an active shooter. Clearly, there
were gaps in coordination that fateful day as
outlined in the document, “Gateway
Observations and Recommendations.” For example, there was no
visible person or team in charge at Gateway
STEM High School, the site designated for
parents to be reunited with their children
after the shooting. Is there now an
inter-agency protocol that clearly outlines
security procedures and next steps for a
community that will be gripped in fear and
anxiety?
We deserve a report from the St.
Louis Police Department on what happened. In
similar school shootings, such as in Ocala, FL
and Nashville, TN, the video was released
within hours. This allows for a timeline to be
constructed to see what lessons can be gleaned
to be better prepared for future shootings. A
local TV station has tried unsuccessfully to
obtain the school surveillance video for the
last year, but the reason keeps changing as to
why it can’t be released. If the SLPD stays
true to its secretive practices, the tapes
will be withheld indefinitely under the guise
of an “ongoing investigation.” Transparency is
not one of this department’s strengths.
The recovery process in a school
shooting has been formalized in a guide by the
National Association of Secondary School
Principals. This past summer, Dr. Shahid and
other NASSP colleagues were called to testify
before Congress and to meet with Homeland
Security representatives on what’s been
learned about school shootings. St. Louis
Public Schools should be prepared when other
urban districts come knocking who are creating
safety protocols informed by those who’ve gone
through the fire.
There has been no structured and
comprehensive approach to the local recovery
plan. This has resulted in anxiety and
frustration expressed in public and private
ways by the parents, students and staff of
both schools. Even in the face of such a
horrific event, many feel they are expected to
move on. They don’t feel listened to by
decision-makers and policy-shapers.
Dr. LT Punch is a surgeon and
founder of Bullet Related Injury Clinic
(BRIC). His team organized the ‘Day of
Remembrance’ this year that provided an array
of services for stress reduction and healing.
They know that injuries don’t have to be
bullets to the body. Dr. Punch has stated
there’s a “diversity of needs” in traumatic
situations which helps us to better understand
the multi-tiered ways to get healthy and feel
secure.
It would be a powerful display
of leadership to see the bureaucratic systems
come together - the schools, public safety and
city government - and hold a public hearing on
what happened on October 24, 2022 and why, and
to share their plans for more effective
coordination in the future. The anxiety and
fear remain real. There’s no reason not to be
better prepared for the fire next time, given
the body of evidence since the infamous
Columbine shooting. The next school shooting
in an urban setting is not a matter of if, but
a matter of when.
