That’s what the emails from the English department to and about the Virginia Tech shooter show.
They knew there were problems. They were trying to deal with them. They helped him as much as they could. They looked for ways to keep him successful.
It is also true they didn’t recognize some warning signs, but hindsight is simpler than the warnings appear in the rapid pace of real-life living.
And, yes, I do know his name. But I make it a policy to forget the evil and remember the good.
Liviu Librescue deserves to be remembered. He was a Holocaust survivor who vowed to never let his students be taken and when the time came, he stood by that vow. Every single one of his students at Virginia Tech got out safely. He died. His is a name worth remembering.
My CC2 students noted that his name ends with “rescue.” I told them that “libre” means free. He appears to have been aptly named.
What would you do with a shooter in the hall? I carry a glass-breaker in my purse and tell my students where it is. I tell them that if we all rush him, even a gunman is likely to go down. I talk them through the exits and the safest ways to be stuck in the room if escape proves impossible.
I consider that part of the education I am responsible for sharing with them.
They ask me if I will, like Librescue, stand between them and death. That is a very scary question. I don’t have an answer I like.