The Columbia Missouri National Education Association organized teacher-led rallies at intersections of Providence Road and Broadway, and Providence and Nifong Boulevard in Columbia, on the 19th Anniversary of the shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.
In spite of a chilly early morning, about 10 school teachers and supporters gathered together to bring a wake-up call against gun school violence.
As an affiliate of Missouri National Education Association, CMNEA was asked to hold a call to action as an advocacy for safer schools.
CMNEA president Kathy Steinhoff and her colleagues stood on the sidewalk holding signs that read “#NEVER AGAIN.” Vehicles along the busy intersection constantly honked to raise support for the action.
Steinhoff says it’s time to say enough is enough.
“Students are at the center of everything we do and all the work that we do at the core we need to make sure that our students are safe when they’re in school,” she said. “So when we see these acts of violence across the country, it's very concerning and we're just asking our community to come together and find a solution to this problem.”
Chris Renner, a special education teacher at Paxton Keeley Elementary School, says he and his colleagues consider student safety and security the most important things.
Renner says some of the teachers’ efforts are geared toward encouraging students to share their feelings and communicate their concerns.
“I think this needs to be a collaborative effort between the teachers, the educators and policymakers, and looking at different ways to think of public policy that's going to keep the children safe,” he said. “My own personal viewpoint is one thing we need to consider is some of the guns that are available to the community at large are just very too easily to have lots of people be hurt in the vast amount of time.”