My Teacher Threatened To Expel Us If We Hid From A Shooter. I Disobeyed Her And Saved My Classmates. Now She’s Claiming She’s The Victim?
Justice in Motion
By day 56 the school district’s lawyers were in full panic mode and offered a $30 million settlement divided among all the families, admitting no wrongdoing but acknowledging failures and oversight. Some families took it immediately because they couldn’t afford years of legal battles, but my parents and 12 other families held out for criminal justice not just money.
Tyler picked me up 2 days later to visit the memorial that had grown outside the school. Hundreds of flowers and teddy bears and photos covering the front steps. Someone had left a copy of the student handbook with the lockdown procedures highlighted in yellow, a note attached that said:
“These rules save lives when teachers follow them.”
We stood there holding hands reading all the messages people had left when Tyler spotted something that made him squeeze my fingers so hard it hurt. Between two bouquets was a printed copy of Jake’s manifesto that the defense teams had just gotten access to. Five pages detailing Ms. Brown’s teaching methods like a psychological torture manual. He documented the public humiliation, the deliberately confusing instructions followed by punishment for not listening, the gaslighting about things she’d said or done. Example after example with dates and witnesses.
The FBI had verified every incident he described through interviews with former students.
That same week Ms. Brown’s former teaching assistant from 2015 finally broke her silence in an interview with the local news. She’d quit after one semester because she couldn’t watch what Ms. Brown did to students anymore. Had even reported it to Principal Foster but nothing was done because Ms. Brown had tenure and the union would fight any disciplinary action. Another administrator who chose the easy path over protecting kids. Another adult who could have stopped this years ago.
Frank the custodian finding forgotten security footage on an old camera system is peak plot device saves the day energy though. I suppose real life does sometimes hand you evidence gift wrapped with a bow when you need it most.
Ben’s Testimony
Ben’s deposition happened on day 62 and his parents sent me the transcript later because they were so proud of how strong he was. His voice apparently never wavered when he said,
“Miss Brown taught us that authority was more important than safety but that day I taught everyone that survival is the only thing that matters.”
The prosecutor asked if he blamed me for defying Mr. Brown and Ben said I was the only adult in that room who acted like one. That a 17-year-old girl showed more leadership than a woman with 25 years of teaching experience.
The FBI showed up at Ms. Brown’s brother-in-law’s house the next morning with a warrant for witness tampering and obstruction of justice after they caught him on a wiretap threatening Ben’s dad’s business partners if Ben didn’t change his testimony. Her whole support network was crumbling as people realized the lengths she’d gone to protect herself. Hiring private investigators to dig up dirt on students’ families. Having her brother-in-law pressure anyone who might testify against her.
Two weeks later I sat at our kitchen table with Rebecca, the prosecutor, spreading out pages of notes for my victim impact statement. She pushed a legal pad toward me and told me not to hold back because the jury needed to understand everything Ms. Brown did that day. Tyler sat next to me, his hand on my knee under the table while I wrote about how she kept us at our desks while a shooter walked the halls.
I wrote until my hand cramped, then typed on my laptop, then wrote some more. The words came out angry at first, then sad, then just tired. Rebecca read through my draft and nodded, telling me this would help the jury see the truth.
