He Left Us To Die!!

You are sitting in class and the fire alarm goes off. Everyone gets up, prepares to leave the room and go to their assigned areas. Some of us leave right away and others straggle. We have all done it at one time or another, either at school or work. But what if you are one of the first ones out. Its like an a bonus cigarette break and you want to enjoy every minute of it, but you get a few feet down the hall and you start hearing gun fire and people screaming. Everyone turns around and rushes back to the class room, only to find the door locked and the teacher refusing to let you in.

Math teacher Jim Gard was credited with protecting students in his classroom in the horrifying moments of Feb. 14 after a teen gunman unleashed a fusillade of bullets at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. In recent days, however, students Josh Gallagher and Connor Dietrich have expressed contempt at Gard. Josh said Gard “called himself a hero, and … the media portrayed him as a hero when in reality he is the opposite.” Josh said he was in Gard’s class when the fire alarm went off and the students filed out. When they heard gunshots, about 15 of them froze before racing back to the classroom. Gard, however, had locked the door and refused to let them in. “We were stuck in the hall for four total minutes, ducking and in fear for our lives” until a teacher Josh didn’t know let them in another classroom, Josh said. He said Gard “left 75% of his students out in the hallway to be slaughtered.”

The teacher has defended his actions, saying, “I looked back down the hall and no one was around — no one.” You have to close the door. That’s protocol. We have no choice.” Another teacher and security experts have said Gard acted appropriately in the situation. Gard recalled how he and his students huddled in the dark classroom when they heard a bang on the door. “I told the kids we can’t let anyone in,” he said. “We had no idea if it was a drill or not. By the time I walked over to the door, the banging had stopped. I didn’t hear any yelling. If there were 13 kids outside the door screaming and banging I would have heard them.” Gard gave a phone interview to CBS Miami while still holed up in his classroom with some of his students, less than two hours after the shooting spree. The group had been awaiting the all-clear from police officers conducting a classroom-by-classroom search. Josh Gallagher said another teacher he’d never seen opened their door to allow him and his classmates inside, and added Gard had appeared “on many news stations” after the shooting. “He has re-victimized the students he left out of his class by calling himself a hero. I have nightmares at what could have happened because of how selfish and horrific this man is.”