Two educators who lost their lives in the line of duty during the past year will be honored during the annual rededication ceremony at the National Memorial to Fallen Educators on Friday, June 21.
Dan Marburger, principal at Perry (Iowa) High School, died Jan. 14, 10 days after he confronted a 17-year-old with a gun. His action was a distraction that allowed students to flee the school cafeteria. One student died and two other staff members and four students were wounded.
In Clarksburg, West Virginia, Liberty High School teacher and coach Ryan Lantz was hit by a vehicle and killed in the school parking lot on Feb. 20.
The rededication ceremony begins at 10 a.m. Friday, June 21, on the east side of the One Room Schoolhouse at Emporia State University. It will conclude with the National Teachers Hall of Fame Class of 2024 inductees and the 2024 National Education Association Education Support Professional of the Year laying flowers at the memorial on the west side of the building.
The National Teachers Hall of Fame was inspired to create the Memorial to Fallen Educators in December 2012 after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. It was dedicated in June 2014 with two granite tablet and 114 names. In 2018, it became the only national memorial in Kansas thanks to efforts in the U.S. Congress led by Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran and then-Kansas Rep. Roger Marshall, who is now a senator.
Today, there are three granite tablets filled with nearly 200 names. Funds are being raised for a fourth tablet that will have the names of Marburger and Lantz at the top.
Each June during NTHF induction activities in Emporia, the memorial is rededicated with a wish and plea that there be “no more names.”
For those unable to attend in person, the program will be livestreamed on kvoe.com.
For more information about the memorial, including ways to donate, go online to nthf.org/falleneducators.