A teacher at Apalachee High School in Georgia recalled how she kept her students calm when a gunman opened fire on the grounds this week.
“I lied to my kids today in second lesson,” language teacher Jennifer Carter wrote on Facebook on Wednesday. “I told them it was just an exercise.”
Carter, who taught at the school more than two decadessaid she instructed her students to sit behind the benches in her classroom and remain quiet. She told them that the quieter they were, the faster the exercise would end.
“My kids were able to hide and not panic for over ten minutes until we heard the banging on doors, walkie-talkies and screaming in the hallway,” she wrote. “Then I had to come clean.”
Carter’s eighteen students were still “brave” when confronted with the truth, and did exactly as she asked.
She added: “It was the worst 20 minutes of my career.”
Carter, who was honored as the high school senior Teacher of the year 2022-2023said she arranges her classroom furniture every year in anticipation of a shooter.
Carter, the students in Carter’s class and Carter’s daughter, who also studies at the school, all survived the shooting. Four people – two students and two teachers – were killed and nine were injured.
The alleged shooter, 14-year-old student Colt Gray, was arrested and charged with murder. His father, Colin Gray, has also been arrested. The father’s charges, which include second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter, stem from allegations that he knowingly allowed his son to possess the AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting.