New Names Added to Fallen Educator Memorial
Note: Interest for Atlanta, Georgia; Santa Fe, Texas; and Springfield, Massachusetts
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Emporia, KS (06/14/2019) — A work crew from Evergreen Design Build in Emporia today installed a new granite tablet at the National Memorial to Fallen Educators in advance of next week's rededication. The new piece provides space for names that were left off during the 2018 rededication.
The National Teachers Hall of Fame broke ground for the memorial in 2013 in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. Names engraved on the memorial include teachers and education support professional who died in the line of duty.
The memorial on the Emporia State University campus will be rededicated at 2 p.m. Friday, June 21.
New names in 2019 include two women, Ann Perkins and Cynthia Tisdale, who were working as substitute teachers at Santa Fe High School on May 18, 2018, when a student opened fire at the Texas high school. Perkins and Tisdale, along with eight students.
Two other women were killed while working as crossing guards. Edna Umeh was serving Cobb County schools in Georgia on Nov. 30, 2017, when she was struck by a driver speeding through a school zone. The next year, Michele Barrows was working for the City of Springfield, Massachusetts, on Aug. 30, 2018, when she was struck by a motor vehicle.
"We are honored to remember each person whose name is engraved on these books," said Carol Strickland, executive director of the National Teachers Hall of Fame. "But ours is a sad vigil, one we wish were not necessary. We hope each year for a dedication ceremony that will have no new names."