A Letter from Teachers Unify’s Executive Director Abbey Clements on Aug. 27, 2025
Executive Director of Teachers Unify Abbey Clements shares a heartfelt message of grief, support, and resources for the Annunciation Catholic School community.
Our hearts ache for the Annunciation Catholic School Community in Minneapolis. The immense grief and trauma from this horrific tragedy are just barely beginning to settle. They are all forever changed. They will need resources, the very best resources, for many, many years to come.
How do we know? Teachers Unify is a consortium of educators, school staff, allies and school shooting survivors. Many of us have experienced this kind of horror at school.
The educators and staff will have to figure out—and this can take a long time—whether they can still do the job they love and whether they can still do it at Annunciation.
For Annunciation educators and staff, the kids in their classes and the entire school are their kids. Forever. It’s the dynamic teachers have, immediately, with their class. The educators and staff may experience great survivor guilt, have nightmares, question what else they could have done, have difficulty concentrating for lesson-planning, feel disconnected to their students who they love or drop all boundaries. They may struggle finding joy with family and friends and things they used to love, have overwhelming emotions that are difficult to control or feel numb. Their relationships with family, colleagues and friends may change. They may consider moving because living there is just too hard. They may feel expected to get over it, move on, get emotions under control, and be resilient and strong. They may compare themselves to others and feel watched and evaluated.
The educators and staff will have to figure out—and this can take a long time—whether they can still do the job they love and whether they can still do it at Annunciation. They will be expected, or feel great responsibility or pressure, to return and to stay. Many will keep teaching there, at least they’ll try (if they decide to continue teaching elsewhere, that comes with a host of other challenges). They may be told, if you don’t want to keep doing this just quit, when this is their livelihood and it happened at work. The teachers returning to Annunciation will teach kids for years who have been traumatized and forever changed. Together, they will navigate loud sounds, forthcoming drills, and how to return to academics after such trauma causes changes in the brain that can make learning new things extra challenging. Teachers and staff will decide whether to speak to reporters; whether to become involved in advocacy, and if so a path that’s right for them; how to advocate for help; how to take care of themselves, their families and their students.
The teachers, administrators, and school staff at Annunciation will need grace, privacy, time, guidance and support. They will need opportunities to meet other educator survivors. You see, if you ask teachers who have endured this kind of trauma what has been the support that has most helped you move forward, the answer is very likely—connecting with others who have been through it (if these connections were arranged, welcomed, encouraged).
We are here for them whenever they are ready.
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