‘We Are Not Okay’: Teachers React Day After Texas School Shooting

Teachers around the country woke up on a school day the morning after the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

One sat in her classroom during lunch in tears. Another watched students “like a hawk” every time the door creaked open. And a teacher of 40 years now thinks of his school as a war zone.

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Responsible for far more than the education of their students, educators across the country are once again on the front lines of crisis.

We asked teachers in the U.S.: What do you want to say in the wake of the Uvalde shooting? Here’s what they wrote to us. (Some of the submissions have been edited for space and clarity.)

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To read the submissions, click this link for NBCNews.com.

One day after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden spoke out Wednesday in favor of "common sense" gun control and demanded confirmation of his nominee to lead the ATF. “Where’s the backbone? Where’s the courage to stand up to a very powerful lobby?”