Massachusetts teachers stand with Uvalde, TX during ‘Day of Rage’

SPRINGFIELD, MA (WGGB/WSHM) - Teachers in western Massachusetts joined others across the state for a ‘Day of Rage, Mourning, and Action’ to stand with Uvalde, TX following last week’s deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School. It was organized by the Massachusetts Teachers Association to pay respects to the 21 lives that were lost and included two schools in Springfield.

Educators and students gathered outside those two Springfield schools this morning for a ‘Day of Rage, Mourning, and Action’ after a gunman shot and killed 19 students and 2 teachers on May 24th in Texas.

“We organized to get the teachers and faculty and staff together to stand in solidarity to honor the victims from the Texas shooting. We wanted to bring attention that prayers and thoughts are just not enough at this time,” said special education teacher Carly Atkinson.

Western Mass News spoke with some of the teachers who participated in the action at Putnam Vocational Technical High School. They told us their message is clear.

“This morning, we wanted to make sure that we let the kids know, to be an example to them, that when you find something that’s important to you, you have to speak out,” said English teacher Carmelo Oliveras.

Teachers at Daniel B. Brunton School also stood in solidarity on Wednesday as part of the broader initiative that was organized by the Massachusetts Teachers Association in response to the deadly school shooting in Uvalde. Oliveras told us he feels it is the teacher’s responsibility to let students express their opinions about issues such as gun violence in schools.

“We wanted to make sure that they understood that what happened is not acceptable it’s not something that we should allow to go unspoken and this was a way for us to bring attention to the issue, but also remember those kids,” Oliveras explained.

He said he discussed the ‘Day of Rage’ with his students afterward, which led to an important conversation he wants to continue in the classroom.

“One student particularly was like ‘mister, why don’t we just get rid of guns?’ and then we had a really good conversation…He’s going to be writing me a paper about why he feels that we should no longer have guns in this country. I said think about it though and I want you to keep in mind two things…why do people have arms? Hunting and protection, so I said write me a paper about it,” Oliveras noted.