The Effects of Witnessing a School Shooting on a

Teacher’s Career: A Narrative Study

Edward John Mooney, Jr.Doctor of Education

Defense Presentation

Committee Members

From Northeastern University:

Dr. Kristal Moore Clemons, Chair

Dr. Lynda Beltz

From the University of Portland (Oregon):

Dr. Jacqueline Waggoner

June 17, 2013

There is a supplemental digital handout available to the committee and the audience.

EdwardMooney.com/defense

My StoryThis project started in 2009, when I met a teacher

who witnessed a school shooting. I have experienced violence in school as a teacher, but nothing I’ve known compared to this person’s story.

“…student homicides occurred in U.S. schools - an average of 21 deaths per year” (Borum, Cornell, Modzeleski, & Jimerson, 2010, p. 27).

In my first class, Ethical Decision Making for Educators, we analyzed a school shooting, focusing on the students. I wondered - what was the perspective from a teacher’s point of view?

There is no documentation of this

perspective in the literature.

Kondrasuk, Greene, Waggoner, Edwards, and Nayak-Rhodes (2005) reported that 75% of school districts did not require counseling for teacher victims following an act of school violence.

“…teachers and other school personnel may not receive the support they need following mass trauma” (Daniels et al., 2007, p. 657).

Daniels, Bradley and Hays (2007) estimate that each year 234,000 teachers in the United States are victims of school-related violence.

“We strongly recommend…psychologists not overlook opportunities to provide aid to teachers and other school staff who have been traumatized” (Daniels et al., 2007, p. 657)

Problem Statement

The central question is, “How does witnessing a school shooting affect a teacher’s career?”

“Immediate reactions to this sort of trauma include physical, behavioral, emotional, and cognitive responses” (Daniels et al., 2007, p. 653).

ConstructsThe constructs (theoretical framework) are Post-

Traumatic Stress Disorder and Organizational Climate.

Lens: social constructivism as a “worldview,” one in which “individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live and work” (Creswell, 2012, p. 20).

Methodology: Qualitative/NarrativeCreswell tells us that that the most suitable type of

problem for this format is the need to tell stories of individual experiences. (Creswell, 2007, p.78)

ParticipantsMelissa and Mike - middle school teachers who separately witnessed school shootings.

Research Questions

Ten questions were developed from the two constructs. One was from PTSD, and the remainder were from Organizational Climate (the Burke-Litwin Model).

Findings - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Question 1: 12 Steps of PTSDActivating event - Pain - Confusion - Guilt -Shame - Self-Worth Dissipation - Anxiety - Fear - Anger - Resentment - Depression - Acute Anxiety

From Hartman, R. (2011)

“That’s when all of a sudden your body just goes, well, it's like a wave, like a shock wave probably, when a bomb goes off and all of a sudden it hits you; and then you start to shake and you start to cry, but you're still an adult with all these little people and you can't do that.

You can't lose it. You can't freak out.” - Melissa

Findings - Organizational Climate

Question 2: How did administrators affect the teachers after the incident?

Question 3: How did policies and practices affect the teachers after the incident?

Administrators “seemed to be happiest if I dealt with all of the problems in my classroom, and that’s pretty much the way it worked out. As long as the office didn’t get a phone call from or about you, they didn’t want to know anything, and that’s kind of the way they kept it.” - Melissa

Findings - Organizational Climate

Question 4: How did a sense of fairness affect the teachers after the incident?

Question 5: How did motivational issues affect the teachers after the incident?

“I’m thinking, ‘You want whatever you can do to benefit these kids.’ Why wouldn’t you? No. It took me time and that’s when I learned, no, they didn’t want it, they didn’t care. I was the stupid one for even thinking that.” - Melissa

Findings - Organizational Climate

Question 6: Did needs being met (or not) affect the teachers after the incident?

Question 7: Did a sense of safety affect the teachers after the incident?

“We’re meeting all of these kids out front. We’re meeting them all out there with cookies. We’re going to be out there because that’s not, if we don’t do that, then the shooter claims that space. That’s not his space, that’s our space.”

- Mike, quoting his administrator

Findings - Organizational Climate

Question 8: How did school district systems affect the teachers after the incident?

Question 9: Did emotional issues affect the teachers’ skills after the incident?

“Since the shooting, if I needed to talk to a counselor, I could call up a counselor and he would be ready to talk to me today.” - Mike

“I…panicked, and I didn’t know what to do. ‘I can’t leave. I want to leave. Everything’s telling me to leave, but I can’t.’” - Melissa

Findings - Organizational Climate

Question 10: How did organizational processes interacting affect the teachers after the incident?

“…let’s just say I was going to earn over a million dollars in my lifetime as a teacher. ‘We’re going to give you $25,000 for that, and that also should cover your medical expenses at the end of it.’ I looked at them and I said, ‘I don’t think so. You’re going to give me at least $250,000 - at least - and maybe I’ll walk, but this is bullshit.’” - Melissa

Answering the Main Question

Simply put, the effects of witnessing a school shooting on a teacher would vary. A teacher with less difficult psychological issues, and with empathetic leadership and support, would likely recover more quickly. Conversely, a teacher with pre-existing psychological issues and disconnected leadership and support might struggle for years.

Implications for Practice: BEFORE

Make pre-incident counseling available

Build a supportive school climate

Build an involved school administration

Hold regular emergency drills

Beef up school security systems

Develop student/staff relationships

Have more adults around

Be aware of PTSD

Implications for Practice: DURING

Provide personal time for witnesses

Prepare “witness shadows”

Roberts describes a shooting as a “period of psychological disequilibria, experienced as a result of a hazardous event or situation that contributes a significant problem that cannot be remedied by using familiar coping strategies” (Roberts, 2000, p. 7).

Implications for Practice: AFTER

Provide quick access to professional counselors.

Consult with crisis management specialists.

Budget expenses for crisis recovery.

Be sensitive to the demands of PTSD.

The problems won’t disappear after a week.

Opportunities for Further Research

Educator Trauma Recovery Index Model.

Educator Career Intervention System.

Additional studies with other participants.

A repetition of this study after a decade.

“iVAST” – Institute for the Study of Violence and School Teachers.

Conclusion

The effects of witnessing a school shooting on a teacher’s career vary by the type of psychological, organizational and support experiences presented to a teacher before, during and after a school shooting.

“Symptoms of PTSD may be delayed in their onset, sometimes not surfacing until 6 months or more after the violence at school” (Daniels, 2007, p. 654).

My Story: Epilogue

Dear Ed,

I am hopeful. I do know that you have chosen a situation that needs attention brought to it in so many ways and for so many reasons! I am so honored to be able to help you make a positive somehow, hopefully, out of such a negative - really!

Melissa

I hope this is not the end but the beginning of a dialogue…This is for Melissa, Mike, their families, friends and students.

Selected References

Borum, R., Cornell, D., Modzeleski, W., & Jimerson, S. (2010). What can be done about school shootings? A review of the evidence. Educational Researcher, 39(1), 27-37. doi: 10.3102/0013189X09357620

Creswell, J. (2012). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among the five approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Daniels, J., Bradley, M., & Hays, M. (2007, December). The impact of school violence on school personnel: Implications for psychologists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38:6, 652-659

Hartman, R. J. (2011). The Twelve Steps to the Formation of PTSD. Retrieved from http://aaph.org/rjhartman/articles/twelve_steps_to_PTSD

Kondrasuk, J. N., Greene, T., Waggoner, J., Edwards, K., & Nayak-Rhodes, A. (2005). Violence affecting school employees. Education, 125, 638-647.

Roberts, A. R. (2007). Crisis intervention handbook: Assessment, treatment and research (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.

AcknowledgementsEdward John Mooney, Jr.

Doctor of Education Candidate

THANK YOU!

Kristal Clemons, PhDLynda Beltz, PhD

Jacqueline Waggoner, EdDCaroline Mooney, BLS