Student Kills Principal: Are Teachers Ever Safe?

A student who killed his principal is being charged with first-degree murder, The Commercial Appeal reported.

Eduardo Marmolejo, 17, stabbed Suzette York several times on Wednesday when he was alone with her in a classroom. The incident took place at approximately 11 a.m. that day.

York was the principal of the Memphis Junior Academy in Tennessee, where Marmolejo was a student. The school is operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church, according to its website.

According to an affidavit, Marmolejo had been planning to kill York since May, when he found out he would be returning to the school for another year. He said he did not like her and that she made him angry.

Teachers, former students and local religious leaders appreciated York.

Former student Brittany Bridges fondly remembered her old math and science teacher.

"She cared. She took the time if you didn't understand it," Bridges told The CA. "She was the one who would sit down after school and take care of you. She was like that all the time. To everyone. There was never a soul she wouldn't help."

The murder brings up the issue of violence against teachers and school administrators, a topic that is often overlooked in favor of focusing on violence by and against students.

According to a 2010 report from the National Center for Education Statistics, 7 percent of teachers who participated in a survey said they were threatened with injury during the 2007-2008 school year. Four percent of teachers surveyed said they were physically attacked that same school year. The survey also showed that public school teachers had a higher incidence than private school teachers.