“I can’t see myself in a classroom again”, says teacher who survived attack in SP

With one arm resting on a kind of sling to protect the suture dressings, teacher Rita Cássia Reis testified at the 34th DP of São Paulo (Vila Sônia) this Tuesday afternoon (28). She was one of the victims stabbed by a 13-year-old teenager at Thomazia Montoro state school on Monday (27).

In an interview with journalists, Rita, who has been a teacher for 12 years, said that she should not go back to her job as before. “Today, in my head, I can’t think of a lap. I can’t think of seeing myself in a classroom again.”

The teacher said she had no idea it was an attack. “He came towards me with the knife in his hand. Quiet. At the time you think it’s a joke, anything, except that it’s an aggression”.

But after the 13-year-old teenager started throwing blows, Rita feared for her life. “I thought I was going to die, because these things, when they happen, there is always death”.

She was in her office when, around seven o’clock in the morning, she heard screams and opened the door, where she ran into the student who had just stabbed teacher Elisabeth Tenreiro, 71, in the next room”.

After being stabbed, Rita was rescued by a student. “I have an image of him on top of me with the knife in his hand. Me protecting myself. I got two cuts on my back, one on my arm, trying to protect myself, screaming ‘stop, stop, stop’. A student helped me, wrapped her blouse around my arm. My gratitude at this moment is for this student, who seems to have welcomed me”.

Rita de Cássia became the teenager’s teacher. “As a student, [era] very quiet, very reserved, [usava] headphone all the time in life. Very oblivious to everything and quarrelsome, ”she says.

The delegate investigating the case, Marcus Vinicius Reis, said that the teenager said, in his testimony on Monday (17), that he carried out the attack because he would have been bullied in at least three schools where he studied. The delegate reiterated that, despite having confessed the motivation for the attack, it was necessary to cross-check the information from the different testimonies and proceed with the investigation, in order to reach a conclusion.

“He was bullied, but bullying is very common in schools,” said the teacher. “As an educator it is very sad, because we try to play a relevant role in society and we see the response that this is not happening”.

The teacher characterized the attack as an “announced but punctual tragedy”, because according to her, as a rule, teachers at the school are treated well. “It was a very punctual situation. We can’t judge all students for this one. We are very cherished by the students, we are very well received by the students.”

Asked if she received support from the State, the teacher declined to talk. “Can we skip this question”? And then she said she didn’t get it.

In a note, the São Paulo State Department of Education stated that “everyone involved in the case will receive the necessary health care or any other request. But at this moment, we have to wait for the investigation by the Civil Police and what actions will be taken in relation to the return of classes at school”.