Former Perry Hall Principal A National Speaker On School Violence

PERRY HALL, MD — The former principal of Perry Hall High School says he's still getting calls. That is, calls from other principals about what to do after school shootings.

George Roberts, who was the principal of Perry Hall High School during the August 2012 point-blank-range shooting that injured one student and sent another to jail, has become part of an unofficial support network for leaders of schools that have experienced such an event.

This week, he spoke on Capitol Hill and was featured in Education Week about how school communities are affected in the aftermath of school shootings.

"We are not trained as first responders; we are trained as educators," Roberts told Education Week, which published an article Tuesday about schools that have experienced shootings across the U.S.

Roberts now works as a community superintendent, overseeing principals for Baltimore County Public Schools. He also has the informal duty of guiding other administrators through active shooter events.

After the shooting in 2012 at Perry Hall High School, Roberts said he turned to a retired principal in Kentucky who had led a school through a shooting there in 1997. Based on the guidance he received, which was to allow the community members to help, Roberts told Education Week he helped coordinate a mural project inside the Perry Hall High School cafeteria by a local artist that each student could also have a hand in as well.

To foster a sense of community where people felt comfortable reporting concerns, Roberts also said he made a point in his morning announcements to remind students to share their concerns and the school created drop boxes out of empty lockers where people could leave anonymous notes about issues they saw, according to Education Week.

Another lesson Roberts said he learned was that in the event of another school shooting, such as the one at Sandy Hook that happened in December 2012, students and staff again needed extra support to process the tragedy. On the dates when the gunman was appearing in court, people would also need support, he said.

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"...there is no manual for how to recover from a school shooting event," Roberts wrote in a piece he published Monday through the National Association of Secondary School Principals. While he said there was not an official book for what to do, he could share his experiences. And he has done so for the past six years, he said, to help others navigating similar situations.

On Tuesday, he spoke on Capitol Hill at a briefing called "Protecting Our Schools From Gun Violence." He was among a handful of panelists, including those from Sandy Hook, Connecticut, and San Bernadino, California, speaking about recommendations for handling school violence. The event was sponsored by the National Association of Secondary School Principals.

The event was taking place ahead of the National Day of Action Against Gun Violence in Schools on Friday, April 20.

Photo of former Perry Hall High School Principal George Roberts after the shooting on Aug. 27, 2012, by Emily Kimball.