Thumb Reporter

Bay City School District recently issued the following announcement.

I was in my 9th-grade English class when the first tower was hit. We were in our school’s media center, and someone immediately brought out a TV and flipped on the news. Students and staff watched together in stunned disbelief.

Looking back, I’m very thankful to have been under the care of educators in the midst of that tragedy. So many young Americans were fortunate enough in those moments to be surrounded by adults who had committed their lives and careers to molding children into young men and women. On that particular morning, the transition from child to adult advanced prematurely for many of us.

The footage of then-President George W. Bush reading a book to a classroom when his security detail approached him with news of the attack is seared into my memory. What a juxtaposition: an innocent, laudable moment interrupted by one of the most horrific attacks ever carried out on an innocent public.

For those of us who were school-age during the attacks, our schools and educators stepped up for us. They offered wisdom, shoulders to cry on, and appropriate anger toward evil. There are plenty of heroes that have rightly been celebrated for their brave actions following 9/11, but we should not overlook those educators who were there for us when we needed it. To the teachers who have and continue to go above and beyond for each student in your care: Thank you.

On behalf of the Bay City Public Schools family, we offer condolences to all impacted by the 9/11 attacks, honor to those men and women who serve or have served in our armed forces, and a sincere thank you to those teachers who traded lesson plans for extra care and compassion 20 years ago today.

-Ben Tierney, BCPS Director of Communications & Family Engagement

Original source can be found here.