Page 45 - 2020 VIRTUAL NATIONAL SUMMIT ON SCHOOL SAFETY PROGRAM

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RECLAIMING MY VOICE
A Teacher’s Safe and Sound Story: Missy Dodds
I’ve always believed that the desire to be a teacher is something already present inside you at birth. That belief is confirmed every time I see my favorite childhood photograph showing all my dolls lined up on the sofa, perfectly attentive to what I was teaching.
In the spring of 2005 I was doing what I was born to do—teaching mathematics at Red Lake Senior High School in Red Lake, Minnesota. Suddenly, our peaceful afternoon was interrupted by a disturbance in the hallway. When the noise finally registered as gunfire I recognized a sixteen- year-old, former student of mine in the hall, just before he shot out the glass adjacent to my
locked classroom door. That tragic afternoon there were heroes, victims, survivors and an entire community changed forever. In the end, five students, one teacher and our security guard were lost forever. I narrowly survived but I felt the teacher born inside of me die that day.
For years I’ve battled with that day’s extensive repercussions. I’ve learned to heal, find joy and recently have felt the fire to teach start burning inside me again. I have now reclaimed my voice, not lecturing about equations but rather as a school safety advocate. Today, I have three children
of my own and could not ignore the safety concerns I saw in their schools. Safe and Sound Schools’ webinar series has provided me with the knowledge and courage to share my story in a powerful way. Their training and resources helped me better understand lessons learned from our tragedy at Red Lake. I now find myself using my skills as a teacher to educate others the lessons that Safe and Sound Schools has taught me about threat assessments and emergency management plans.
Of course, I never could have anticipated the trajectory my life and career have taken. I would have never chosen this path, rarely do we ever get to choose what events alter our planned course in life. Luckily, for me protecting our schools is not a choice, but a duty we all share.
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