Stories about TEACHERS you may not have heard

Nikki Stone1

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Wed Mar-17-10 02:18 AM
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Stories about TEACHERS you may not have heard

http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/02/24/teachertacklesgunman_ap.html?tkn=OURFps5sBconSupBfhruMEidIhwuhWXJhRgT&cmp=clp-edweek

Colo. Teacher Tackles Gunman, Saves Students

LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — Math teacher David Benke says he had no time to fear for his life when he tackled a man he said was preparing to reload a rifle to shoot students at a Colorado middle school who were heading home for the day.

And Benke doesn't consider himself a hero for stopping the 32-year-old accused of wounding two students Tuesday at the Littleton school that's just miles (kilometers) from Columbine High School, the site of one of the nation's deadliest school shootings.

"You know, it bugs me that he got another round off," Benke said of the two shots that authorities say Bruco Strongeagle Eastwood fired.

On Tuesday, Jefferson County Sheriff Ted Mink praised Benke, calling him a hero. Benke, the father of 7-year-old twins and a 13-year-old girl, fought back tears after Mink thanked him......

http://www.newser.com/story/1477/professor-gave-life-to-save-students.html

Professor Gave Life to Save Students
TEACHER HELD OFF GUNMAN WHILE STUDENTS SLIPPED OUT THE WINDOW

NEWSER) – A 77-year-old Virginia Tech professor who barred the door to his classroom against the gunman wreaking havoc down the hall sacrificed his life to save his students. Professor Liviu Librescu was teaching a class on solid mechanics when he heard gunshots. He held the door closed as students escaped through the window, and was shot through the door.

The heroic professor taught aerospace and ocean engineering, and once did research for NASA. His wife and two sons plan to bury him in Israel, the Daily News reports. "He realized he had to save the students," said his daughter-in-law Ayala Schmulevich. "That was the kind of man he was."

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-4-20/54342.html

Face-to-Face with a Gun-Wielding Maniac
A Life and Death Moment for One Virginia Tech Teacher

During the massacre in Virginia Tech, one lucky teacher and her students survived the gunman's attack by blocking the entrance to their classroom. Cheng Haiyan, a teaching assistant at Virginia Tech, garnered national attention for her harrowing experience. She described her terrifying experience to Southern Metropolitan News.Net in a telephone interview.

Cheng says she would like to delete the day of April 16, 2007 from her calendar. She calls it a painful and nerve-wracking day. The pain came later, she says, but the tension was there from the moment the shooting began and has stayed with her to this day.

At 9 a.m., Cheng went into the classroom and just as per usual, all 10 students arrived. Cheng was the substituting teacher for the class of Issues in Scientific Computing. The first 45 minutes of the one-hour class were completely normal as she discussed the topic of "numerical solutions for ODE"

Unexplained Explosions Interrupt Cheng Haiyan's Lessons

Suddenly, at 9:45, "Bang, bang," Cheng Haiyan heard loud explosions outside of the classroom. The sounds were sharp and loud and came from somewhere very close by. Cheng's first thought was that something had broken. There was no other noise. After five or 10 seconds, just as she was going to introduce the next topic for discussion, "stability analysis," the loud bangs repeated.....

http://nysut.org/newyorkteacher/2003-2004/040225columbiahighschool.html

Heroic educators stop gunman
It could have been a Columbine

Only two letters separate "Columbia" from "Columbine."

Just two letters - and a blessedly different outcome when a shooter opened fire in Columbia High School's halls on Feb. 9. That terrible morning in suburban Rensselaer County, a teacher was injured - but thanks to two educators' heroics and a tightly executed lockdown plan, not a single life was lost.

Some said it was grace, others happenstance, but at the end of the day, there were hugs, not heartbreak....

"He had a 12-gauge shotgun. I saw the barrel and the butt," Newman said.

She made a wise and rapid assessment - he was over six feet, she's a petite 5'2" - and as quietly as possible, she closed the door, went under a desk, and pulled out her cell phone. She had no idea if the shooter was alone or if he had returned outside the door, but she knew she had to sound an alarm. Newman dialed 911 and began to speak.

At 10:30 a.m John Sawchuk, assistant principal at Columbia, was observing a teacher in the south tower of the school - an impromptu appointment because an earlier one had been scrapped due to a snow day. When he heard two loud noises, his first thought was a gas explosion in technology class. Sawchuk, a former quarterback at Mont Pleasant High in Schenectady in the late '70s, ran out of the classroom and headed toward the noise, calling to teachers now emerging from their rooms to get back inside.

Two doors away from Sawchuk, special education teacher Michael Bennett asked his aides to watch his students, then raced toward the noise, stopping only to direct a few students back into class.

The two educators converged, Bennett behind Sawchuk, and rounded a corner into the next hall.

"I didn't expect to find someone with a gun when I turned the corner," Sawchuk said.

But the scene was every teacher's worst nightmare: a hall hazy with smoke from the blasts of two gunshots and a student with a gun......

http://www.thestar.com/article/224395
(From Canada)

Gr. 4 teacher foiled gunman

Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter
A quick-thinking Grade 4 teacher in Vaughan is credited with rushing students to safety after a daylight jewellery store robbery led to gunfire in a schoolyard, hostage-taking and a high-speed chase that ended with one suspect arrested.
The teacher at Leo Baeck Day School, on Atkinson Ave., near Bathurst St. noticed a police helicopter overhead and a man hiding behind a garbage container in the school’s yard shortly after 1 p.m. yesterday, and quickly moved his students out of harm’s way and back into the school.

The teacher, who has not been identified, put his students’ safety first, as the gunman pointed a pistol towards himself and the students, York Regional Police Chief Armand La Barge said at a news conference this morning.

“He is certainly to be commended for his actions,” La Barge said......

http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/national/BO131470/

Police: Va. student gunman was aiming for teacher

WOODBRIDGE, Va. -- Prince William County Police say a community college student was aiming for his professor when he fired a rifle in a classroom full of students.

Twenty-year-old Northern Virginia Community College student Jason Hamilton was arraigned Wednesday on charges of attempted murder and discharging a firearm in a school zone. He is being held without bond.

Police say they believe Hamilton was disgruntled over school but have not said why he specifically targeted the teacher.

Charging documents state that Hamilton walked into the classroom Tuesday afternoon, pulled a hunting rifle out of a bag and pointed it at assistant professor Tatyana Kravchuk. He then fired twice, missing her. The documents say Hamilton confessed after his arrest.

Hamilton's lawyer declined to comment on the charges.

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And the Department of Ed is trying to trash the salaries of those who dedicate their lives to--and sometimes risk their lives for--other people's children.

SHAME ON YOU ARNE DUNCAN.