SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Moments after he was shot Kevin Lein got on the school intercom system to let everyone know he was ok and the situation was under control.
“It was just a reaction to you know what the moment was,” Lein said in 2015.
Lein is now a principal at Camelot Intermediate School in Brookings. He’s also part of a group of principals across the country who have experienced shootings in their schools like the one in Texas.
It’s called the Principal Recovery Network.
The principals of other schools like Sandy Hook, Parkland and Columbine are all members.
“It keeps growing and that’s not a great group to continue to evolve and grow. So this past week was very very difficult it seemed to shock and hit us harder than even some of the other incidents in the country and still trying to digest this and cope with it,” said Lein.
The group meets virtually about 4 times a year and once in Washington DC. Lein says they all look forward to spending time together in person.
“Try to talk about our lives, it’s interesting how many of them have tracked kind of the same way and you know I sometimes am really humbled of course because my incident didn’t involve anybody having to sustain a fatality you know some of these guys have been through things that have really been horrific,” said Lein.
The group has already reached out to the principal of the school in Uvalde Texas. Lein says each incident is different but they all have one thing in common.
“We all share a lot of guilt we all try to put that away, but when we meet individually we wonder what we could have done to prevent this. You know many times we are still searching years later, I’m still searching years later for Mason. Even yesterday I had a conversation with some colleagues I was speaking to, I just still wonder what was that one thing I could have done that could have changed the path of these historic events,” said Lein.
Lein and other members of the Principal Recovery Network have sent out a letter calling on lawmakers in Washington DC to work together to come up with a solution. Part of the letter says “We beg you. Do something. Do anything.”
Ryan Rollinger, the current principal at Harrisburg High School, is also part of the Principal Recovery Network. He tackled the shooter and held him until police arrived.
