From August 25, 2009

Another Reason to Thank God For Teachers

from SFGate.com

Kennet Santana, a real hero

In the moments after a young man detonated two pipe bombs at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, English language development teacher Kennet Santana didn't have time to think about what he should do.

As students crouched for cover in their classrooms, Santana, 34, moved toward the explosions shortly after 8 a.m. Monday. In the hallway outside the library, he saw a boy wearing a tactical vest with what turned out to be eight other pipe bombs.

Santana thought at first the youth was a student trying to run from whatever was happening. But when he noticed a pipe bomb sticking out of one of the boy's pockets, he realized that the youth was a threat - and that he had to stop him.

Without hesitation, Santana tackled the boy in a bear hug, pinned his arms to his sides, flipped him to the ground and stayed on top of him while yelling at other teachers to call for help.

Struggling to control his emotion at a news conference Tuesday, Santana brushed off any suggestions that he had acted valiantly in stopping the suspect, a 17-year-old former Hillsdale student who police say was also armed with a chainsaw in a violin case and a sword with a 2-foot blade.

"There's one hero in my family, and he's in Iraq right now," Santana said, referring to his brother, who is in the military.

Santana had just arrived at school and had been heading for the office when the first explosion happened and the smoke from the pipe bomb set off the school's fire alarm.

He said he had actually had been walking away from the havoc at first. The "problem," as he described the suspect, "came to me."

Santana credited others with helping to subdue the boy, including Principal Jeff Gilbert and counselor Ed Canda. The men held the teenager down until police arrived.

Gilbert called Santana, who has taught at Hillsdale since 2007, a "genuinely humble individual" and a "remarkable educator, a person who any number of our students look up to and connect with."

For his part, Canda, a former Hillsdale student, said, "I can't say I was completely brave throughout the process, but I've never been more relieved to see the police arrive."

Authorities credited the faculty members with helping to avert what could have been a disaster. They said the boy, whose name has not been released because of his age, nursed a grudge against some teachers and students from his time at Hillsdale, and had planned to detonate all 10 pipe bombs before attacking survivors with the chainsaw and sword.

The 1,270-student school was closed Tuesday while officials cleaned up the campus. Classes are scheduled to resume Wednesday.