The daughter of the teacher gunned down within the St. Louis school shooting said her mom had mentioned a security concern last semester – telling relatives that a student from one other school had brought a gun into the constructing.
“She mentioned that, but aside from that, she didn’t really think anything” about safety concerns, Abigail Kuczka told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about Jean Kuczka, 61, the slain physical-education teacher.
“I mean, I feel people think it would never occur to them,” she added.
Orlando Harris, 19, who graduated last yr from the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, entered the constructing through a locked door Monday morning and opened fire, police said.
Kuczka and 15-year-old student Alexandria Bell died within the rampage, which left seven other teens were wounded. The gunman was killed by police.
The beloved teacher had taught at the varsity since 2008, in accordance with her school bio.
“My mom loved kids,” Abigail told the paper. “She loved her students. I do know her students checked out her like she was their mom.”
In a tweet, school district worker Glenn Barnes called Kuczka “a tremendous educator” who made a difference in her community.
“This can be a huge loss,” he wrote.
Kuczka attended Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State, on a field hockey scholarship and was a member of the 1979 national championship team, the Post-Dispatch reported.
On the Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, the mother of three daughters and two sons – one among whom is a police officer in Eureka — has taught health, personal finance and physical education
She recently began coaching cross country on the Collegiate School of Medicine and Bioscience in the identical constructing.
“This was her first yr of empty-nesting, and she or he was on the lookout for something extra to do,” Abigail told the paper. “She was definitely looking forward to retirement though. She was close.”
Kuczka, an avid cyclist, participated in yearly events event to lift money to assist fight juvenile diabetes. Considered one of her sons was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 10, Abigail said.
Reached by phone by the Post-Dispatch late Monday, her husband Stephen choked up as he said he didn’t need to comment yet.