9/11. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the most lethal terrorist attacks in history. There were almost 3000 fatalities in the attack orchestrated by Al-Qaeda, and 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers also lost their lives.
Many adults remember exactly where we were when this took place. I was a high school teacher at the time and I watched and processed the news coverage with my 11 student advisees. One of my advisees worried that Bath Iron Works would be a target, a reflection of how quickly a distant tragedy pierced our local sense of security.
That immediate fear was just the beginning of a major transformation, as this event changed our sense of safety and security, resulting in increased surveillance and airport security among other things. It also led to a rise in Islamophobia, which after some decline, is again rising.
As we reflect on a quarter-century since that day, our responsibility as an educational community is to ensure that the memory of September 11 serves not to divide us, but to deepen our collective commitment to peace, empathy, critical thinking, and democratic resilience.
Today’s students were born long after the towers fell, and this history lives for them not in memory, but in textbooks and the cultural shifts of a post-9/11 world. As educators, our task is to honor the lives lost—including the courageous first responders—by fostering classrooms where deep inquiry replaces fear, and where our diverse community stands united against hate in all its forms.
Warm regards,
Angela Atkinson Duina, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools
South Portland School Department