In May 2022, The Washington Post reported that more than 311,000 students have experienced gun violence at school since the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado. And that includes the 500 students that experienced tragedy in their school district on May 24, 2022, in Uvalde, TX where 19 students and 2 teachers were killed.
In today's episode, we're honored to be talking with Dr. Cissy Reynolds-Perez, Supt., Kingsville ISD - an educator who has taught and led schools at all levels and who truly "walks the talk." Not only has she engaged the students in the districts where she has worked but has engaged the community to talk about how to keep schools safer.
We first met Dr. Perez in2018 when she was principal at W.B. Ray High School, Corpus Christi ISD, Corpus Christi, TX after she had been interviewed by Rachel Martin on NPR's Morning Edition. Dr. Perez talked about "Post Shooting: Classes to Resume at Santa Fe (TX) High School." After the Parkland (FL) school shooting, she noticed people saying "Oh, this is just another school shooting." She wanted her students to be aware that these were real people, real teachers, real coaches falling victim to the violence. She had them write letters to her to let her know what their thoughts were about this and if they had suggestions for her about preventing similar incidents at their school.
We reached out to Dr. Perez and she responded immediately to invite us to Ray High School to tell her more about our discipline management program, reThinkIt!, which had already prevented a school shooting at a Houston-area middle school. In her office, we saw the high stack of letters in a chair in the corner of the room - each with notes scribbled on them and highlighted content. She shared how she had walked into a high school classroom and pulled out some of those letters and started talking about the recommendations the students had made. The students were floored - they couldn't imagine the principal of their high school would take the time to listen to them.
But she did and she continues to do that today, which is why she invited two students from her new district, Kingsville ISD, in Kingsville, TX to speak with us. You'll hear their voices in Episode #8.
For the next 20 minutes, you'll be glad you took the time to listen to Dr. Perez share her experiences before, during, and after the Uvalde, TX school shooting while guiding us through her advice on where we go next to keep our schools safer.