~guest commentary by Eric Coop, shared by The Scranton Journal
The 1960s folk-rock group, The Byrds, said it best in their song, Turn, Turn, Turn, which in turn quotes from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. “To everything turn, turn, turn, There is a season turn, turn, turn, And a time to every purpose under Heaven.”
Since the tragic shooting at Perry High School on Jan. 4, I’ve had the line, “a time to mourn” on my mind as collectively we mourn and try to make sense of senseless acts of violence where two young men have lost their lives and the lives of countless others will be impacted for a lifetime. An act that shattered the myth of, “it can’t happen here.”
We mourn for the families of both the 11-year-old victim who was killed, Ahmir Jolliff, and the shooter, 17-year-old Dylan Butler. We mourn for long-time Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger and his family as he recovers from his injuries. We mourn for the four students and two other staff members who were wounded in the attack. Lastly, we mourn for the innocence lost by the community of Perry, who I am sure had the same feeling as many rural communities in Iowa where it was said, “That could never happen here.”
We’re also left asking the question, “How could this happen in rural Iowa?”
As I write this on the Sunday following the attack, many details are either not publicly known, or are still being investigated by state and federal law enforcement who are looking into the events of the days, weeks, months, and possibly years leading to the violence that occurred on Jan. 4. At this point, we have allegations of bullying of both Dylan and his younger sister, alleged steps taken by parents to help their son, alleged inaction by school officials to accusations of bullying and many other things that those investigating this horrific act will need to sift through to help us understand what was going on in Dylan’s mind before he opened fire in his school, and then turning a weapon on himself.
As a teacher, the school shooting at Perry taps into my worst nightmares of teaching. It causes me to ask many questions of myself professionally. The biggest question I ask is, “What would I do?” I also ask the questions that law enforcement, the Perry community, and a majority of us in education are asking – “Why?” Why was this the only course of action Dylan felt would alleviate the pain he was feeling? Why did an 11-year-old boy have to die? How did Dylan get access to the weapons he was carrying? How did things get to this point?
As we’ve seen in the days following the events at Perry High School, it seems everyone has weighed in on at least some aspect of these events. We have people from all political bents giving their thoughts about the shooting and its causes. We have people using the events to attack politicians for their beliefs. Still others are saying the tragedy is a “coverup” for the release of the Jeffery Epstein documents. All I have to say to all these people is this – while I support your right to say and believe whatever you want as outlined in the First Amendment, do all of us who are dealing with the aftermath of this tragedy a favor. Just. Stop. It. You’re not helping.
As a teacher, especially a teacher who works with students with special needs, I understand the impact of bullying and how it wears the victim down. I get that there are times schools feel as if they’re between a rock and a hard place when it comes to dealing with bullying because there are times it becomes a case of, he said, she said and there’s not enough evidence to prove who did what when. All of that is understood. I also understand that coming back from a long break, such as Winter Break, can cause anxiety in students and teachers alike. However, that doesn’t explain the events of Jan. 4. As I have said, we have a lot of guesses, but no concrete evidence.
That leaves the question of what can be done to prevent an incident such as what occurred at Perry. My first suggestion would be simple – if you see or hear something, say something. Call a school administrator, email a school administrator, call law enforcement, do something. It’s far better to reach out and be wrong than to not reach out and be right.
Second, support your schools. For those of you who subscribe to The News Gazette, we are small schools. As a teacher in one of the districts, hearing parents or community members saying, “You’re doing a good job,” or “Thank you for teaching here,” means a lot.
Third, support the students in your schools. I know in my district, our kids get excited when members of the community come to events such as sporting events, plays, speech, or music events. I know it’s easy to say that kids don’t notice or don’t care, but I can promise you that you’re wrong. They do notice and they definitely care.
Finally, participate in our schools. If there’s an opportunity to volunteer do so. If you see there are job openings, help by contacting people you feel could fill the positions.
As we move through the next few days and weeks, much will be said about what happened. We will likely learn what the motive was behind the shooting and why Dylan felt it was necessary to shoot and kill his class and schoolmates. Ahmir will be memorialized as a victim of a senseless act of violence. Dan Marberger will be hailed as a hero for sacrificing himself so others in the building could get out.
But through it all, we will still mourn.
Eric Coop is a special education and journalism teacher at AC/GC High School in Guthrie Center. The thoughts and ideas in this commentary are his and are not necessarily those of the Guthrie Center or Adair-Casey Community School Districts.
