Several Anacostia High School teachers and staff held an impromptu work stoppage Friday in a push to get D.C. Public Schools officials to address safety concerns around the building that they felt had been neglected.

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       The action arose out of a staff meeting that was called by the school’s administration Friday morning to discuss recent issues on school grounds. Teachers and staffers were worried about safety on campus, after bullets had pierced the school’s front doors this week.

       That incident, coupled with the stress of teaching during the coronavirus pandemic, created “a boiling pot that just boiled over,” said Ronald Edmonds, a history teacher at the high school.

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       When staffers were asked to return back to classes, one person called out, “We’re not going back until someone in our administration hears our concerns,” Edmonds recalled. Staffers remained in the school’s auditorium where the meeting was taking place. Students were in the gymnasium being supervised by the school’s administration.

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       “It was just a lot of professional educators who at one point and at one time unified because they were tired of being tired,” Edmonds said.

       Teachers walk out, cancel classes for an hour at D.C.’s Anacostia High

       A D.C. police report confirmed that apparent gunfire damaged a beige metal door and shattered glass at Anacostia High School on Wednesday evening.

       The incident was reported shortly before 6 p.m. at the school in the 1600 block of 16th Street SE. No arrests have been made.

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       The report says officers saw “bullet holes and broken glass” consistent with gunfire. Damage was estimated to be about $200.

       The school’s principal, William Haith, sent out a letter to parents Wednesday notifying them that two bullets pierced the school’s front doors. Students weren’t in classes when the incident took place, but “there were a number of students in the building for sporting events,” he wrote.

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       By Friday, the damage to the front wasn’t fixed. Teachers were worried about students seeing the bullet holes in the front door and being reminded of the event as they were coming in for classes for the day.

       “There was a lack of response and a lack of empathy toward our students and our staff. It’s something that’s been historic at Anacostia,” said a teacher there who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation.

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       During the work stoppage, teachers and staffers pointed to problems they noticed in the building: There were maintenance issues that had yet to be fixed. The school didn’t have laptops distributed in case it needed to make a transition to virtual learning due to a coronavirus outbreak. Many didn’t feel confident in how mental health was being addressed on campus.

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       Assistant Superintendent JuDonn DeShields came to the school’s campus to listen to the staffers, teachers said. Prominent city and school leaders, including D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8), Washington Teachers’ Union President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons and Ward 8 State Board of Education Rep. Carlene Reid also came to the school to talk to staffers.

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       “I witnessed over 35 teachers assembled in the auditorium of [Anacostia High] to express concerns related to safety and building conditions,” Reid wrote on Twitter. “Crisis and wellness teams need to be dispatched and bullet holes patched before students and staff return on Monday.”

       During the meeting, administrators promised to bring crisis and wellness teams to the school, Edmonds said. Teachers were also told there would be more efforts to ensure students were safe on their commutes to and from school.

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       In a statement, the school system said, “It is important to call out and recognize that coping with the effects of violence is a difficult experience, and we want to ensure our entire community is both physically safe and has the mental health supports needed.”

       As the staffers left the building Friday evening, crews were repairing the bullets’ damage to the school’s front doors.

       Peter Hermann contributed to this report.