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2002-09-12

Remembering September 11
Ron Maggiano
Social Studies Teacher
West Springfield High School
Springfield, Virginia

It has been one year since the September 11 attacks. Looking back now, I can see how so much has changed and how some things have not changed at all. Our lives go on in much the same way as before, with one dark exception. There are no civilians anymore. We are all on the front lines of this new war. We are all in this together.

Tuesday, September 11, 2001, began as any other regular school day. I arrived early, opened my classroom, and prepared to meet my students. It was the second week of school, and my lesson plan focused on the Native American civilizations before 1492. My first period class went as planned. Students began by discussing the question: ?Should the Washington Redskins change their name, since it may be offensive to some individuals or groups?? They then worked on a geography activity using a map showing the location of various North American tribes. During the last twenty-five minutes of the class, students watched a documentary video on Native America civilizations before the Europeans. The class ended with the bell at 9:08 am. I dismissed my class and left my room for break and then my planning period. That was when I heard the news.

As I was walking to the social studies workroom, another teacher, Jim, told me that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. I asked if it was an accident, and what kind of plane was it. Jim said he was not sure and had only just heard the news. I thought it must have been a small private plane and decided to turn on the television in my classroom. First, however, I had to go to the copying center to reproduce some handouts for my next class. Several other teachers were in the copy room, watching CNN on a school television. I looked at the TV screen and saw one of the towers of the World Trade Center on fire. Stunned, I stood with my fellow teachers and looked at the surreal image of smoke and fire coming from the world?s tallest building. The announcer informed us that an airliner had hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. A few moments later, we watched in horror as the second plane hit the South Tower and exploded in a ball of fire. ?Oh my God!? someone screamed. I was stunned, and for a moment could not move. Then, I turned around and went back to my classroom. Along the way, I told other teachers in my department what had happened and told everyone to turn on their television. I spent my planning period watching CNN, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. When the Towers collapsed, it felt like the whole world was coming apart at the seams. I doubt that anyone who saw those Twin Towers collapse that morning will ever forget that terrible sight.

The rest of the school day was like no other I have ever experienced in more than twenty years of teaching. As word of the World Trade Center attacks spread from class to class, more and more teachers abandoned their lesson plans and turned on their televisions for students to watch the dramatic and horrifying story unfold. I modified my own lesson plan so that students could work on their map activity while continuing to monitor the television coverage.

When we learned a short time later that the Pentagon had been hit, many students became openly agitated and concerned. Our school is located in Northern Virginia only a few miles from Washington, D.C., and many students have parents who work in the District or in the Pentagon. Several students asked to leave the room to call their parents. I offered my own cell phone to any student who needed to try to reach a parent, even though students are strictly forbidden to use cell phones during the school day. At the start of fifth period, a student came into my class in a state of near hysteria. Her father, she said, worked at the Pentagon and she had been unable to reach his office. I sent for an administrator and explained the situation. The administrator took the student to her office. After a period of time, she reached the girl?s father at home. He had felt ill that morning and decided to leave work and return home. It was the luckiest day of his life. He later learned that the plane went through his office window.

Another one of my students was also very concerned and with every reason. Her father was heading up the renovation of the Pentagon that had been going on for several years. He had taken a rare day off to attend his brother-in-law?s funeral in North Carolina, and was driving through Tennessee when he learned of the attacks. He turned around immediately and headed back to Virginia.

We learned the next day that the father of two of our students had died on the plane that hit the Pentagon. One of those students had been in my class the previous year. Other students and teachers had similar stories to share in the days ahead. It seemed that everyone knew someone who knew someone who had been killed or injured at either the Pentagon or World Trade Center.

I tried to be as reassuring as possible to my students while having serious concerns of my own. My wife works in the HUD building in Washington. I had tried to reach her as soon as I heard of the attack on the Pentagon without success. I left several messages for her, not knowing that her office had already been evacuated. As it turned out, she had been at a meeting in another building when the Pentagon was hit. The meeting was immediately adjourned, and everyone was told to go home. She was able to drive home safely before the general order to evacuate was given, thus avoiding the worst traffic jam in Washington history.

Shortly before lunch, the principal came over the P.A. system to inform us that students who felt the need to check on parents would be excused from school and that parents could pick up students from school if they were concerned for their safety. We have a small minority of Moslem students at our school. Since speculation already focused on Islamic terrorists as perpetrators of the attacks, we were concerned that these students might feel threatened or afraid. To head off any such problems, the principal also announced that all students were to be treated with respect and tolerance regardless of their religious or ethnic background. I reinforced this in my classes, and I know that other teachers did as well. As far as I know, we had no ethnic or racial incidents of any kind at our school as a result of the September 11 attacks.

In the days immediately following the attacks, I think we were all a little numb, if not shell shocked. Some students were kept out of school by their parents as a safety precaution. Televisions were kept on throughout the school day so that students and staff could monitor the latest news. Everyone was more on edge, more alert, and more patriotic than before the attacks. The day after, students did not just recite the pledge of allegiance as required by law. They stood and proclaimed it as though for the first time. And there was something else. We were angry. We were angry that someone would do this to us, to our loved ones, to children, and families, and single mothers and old people.

A year later, I think that anger is still there. It is not a wish for vengeance so much as a desire for justice. President Bush said in his speech to Congress after the attacks, ?Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.? I hope and pray that it will.