story990.xml

story990.xml

born-digital

story

yes

no

2002-08-09

I was in my 5th grade classroom at Bayard Elementary School. The students were at Music class at the time. I was called to a fellow teacher's classroom to watch the unblieveable events unfolding in New York. Her classroom was the only one of 10 fifth grade classrooms to have cable TV. I immediately called my wife, who was at home, to tell her what was happening. As much as I was needed at school, I really felt a strong pull to be at home with my family.

I went down to get the kids from Music class as they were going to be with me for the remainder of the day, as we are a self-contained classroom. I debated with myself as to whether I should tell the kids what was happening only 2 hours away from us to the north and to the south. I decided to tell them that only a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. Until school was over, we heard nothing else in our classroom. It was hard to teach Math and Science when my mind was elsewhere. I hurried home after school.

This was my first full year in teaching. I am a retired police officer and firefighter from Ohio. I felt such a sense of extreme loss for the firefighters and police officers. Although I personally knew no one killed on September 11th, I understand what it takes to face danger when everyone else runs away from it. They were all heroes.

My wife and I spent our honeymoon at the Marriott at the World Trade Center. She had contractions when we went to the top of the WTC when she was 5 months pregnant with our daughter, Amanda. My father-in-law flew us in his plane up the Hudson River, well below the WTC soaring heights. I reflected on these times as well as times when I risked my life to help others in my previous career.

On September 12th I decided to have a discussion with the kids in my room. We closed the door and talked about their thoughts and feelings. It brought us closer together as a class. I felt it was my duty to explain and talk about the things that happened the previous day. I think parents defer to the teacher to explain things to kids that they may have difficuly talking about. My job was to make sure that the kids knew they were safe with me...to reassure them.

Since September 11th, my family and I have travelled to Ground Zero as a pilgimage and out of respect of all those who died. It is hallowed ground. We were moved by the messages left by people who came like we did. The things we had taken for granted are no longer unappreciated. Freedom has meant so much more to me in the last year. We live in the greatest country in the world. God bless America!