A woman who ran an after school program at a Long Island school was fired after discussing the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting with her students during a lockdown drill.
Gigi Kearns ran an after school program for SCOPE Education Services for 15 years before being fired when she talked with students and showed them pictures of the Sandy Hook school shooting that occurred in 2012.
The incident occurred during a lockdown safety drill ordered by SCOPE at Kearns’ Dickinson Elementary School in East Northport, N.Y. Kearns says she was in a classroom with 30 students from grades two through five when a student asked about Sandy Hook. Kearns, a former police officer for the NYPD, says she has been trained to talk to children about sensitive subjects. Kearns explained the school shooting to the children and showed them news photos of crying Sandy Hook parents, the SWAT team, teachers escorting students out of the building and Adam Lanza, the shooter, according to newyork.cbslocal.com.
At least one parent complained and Kearns was fired shortly afterwards. Dozens of parents have begun a campaign to reinstate Kearns, and 75 school children have signed a petition to bring her back to the school.
SCOPE released a statement saying their decision was in the best interest of the children and called Kearns’ remarks a “poor judgement.”
