In a college town in Kansas, a national memorial commemorates educators who have died on the job.
This year, the Memorial to Fallen Educators will add 10 names. Five of those teachers, administrators, and school staff members died in the shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., and Santa Fe High School in Texas.
In this video, Education Week interviewed the families of Parkland faculty and staff as they attended the June 21 ceremony honoring those who died during the 2017-18 school year.
The National Teachers Hall of Fame, a museum in Emporia that recognizes exceptional educators, built the memorial after 20 students and six educators died in the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.
“We couldn’t stand by and just say, well, we’re really sorry. We wanted to do something for them,” says Carol Strickland, the director of the National Teacher Hall of Fame, in the video.
Education Week‘s Denisa Superville wrote about the memorial, and the educators who were added to it this year, in June.