A St. Louis principal has resigned following a note she penned about the trauma of surviving a shoot shooting.
Kacy Shahid has officially stepped down as principal at Central Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) High School after an alumnus at the school used an assault rifle to kill sophomore Alexzandria Bell, 15, and health teacher Jean Kuczka, 61. Four other students were wounded.
Following the shooting, Shahid became a prominent voice for the students and those affected by the shooting, advocating for efforts to help with post-traumatic stress and proposing new legislation around gun reform. She would become known to represent the school at news conferences, funerals and vigils, and even helped one of the victim’s mothers to pick out the casket for her daughter.
In November, students returned to classes virtually. Shortly thereafter, Shahid wrote that she would be taking a sabbatical to focus “on my personal growth and healing journey,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
“I understand post-traumatic growth and the changes and transformations that can occur after a traumatic situation,” she wrote. “However, the weeks/months following the event were overwhelming and I was challenged as I attempted to prioritize my self-care needs.”
The months following the shooting led the former high school principal to write a self-care journal called Heartwork and has since gone on to speak up about trauma inflicted among those who witness school shootings. She also met with lawmakers in Washington, including meeting with Rep. Cori Bush to confer on school safety measures and gun violence legislation. Her meetings led to U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona publishing a video of Shahid with other educators who survived school shootings.
“I would describe this as my worst nightmare,” Shahid says in the video. “There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about Jean Kuczka and Alexzandria Bell. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about my students who are survivors and my teachers who are survivors. … Extending grace is the best thing we can ask for right now and having compassion is what I would say is needed.”
Shahid is currently one of 22 members of the Principal Recovery Network with the National Association of Secondary School Principals, a support group established in 2019.
The school district confirmed Shahid’s departure in a statement released Wednesday.
“We at Saint Louis Public Schools are sad to see Dr. Kacy Shahid leave as principal of her alma mater, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School (CVPA). She will be greatly missed by all of us at SLPS, and, most notably, her CVPA family,” the district wrote. “Despite our disappointment, we support her aspirations and wish her the very best in her future endeavors.”
