Health teacher killed in south St. Louis school shooting 'loved her students' - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

ST. LOUIS — The pistillate changeable to decease astatine Central Visual and Performing Arts High School connected Monday has been identified arsenic Jean Kuczka, a carnal acquisition teacher astatine the southbound St. Louis school.

Kuczka, 61, of Jefferson County, had taught astatine the schoolhouse since 2008, according to her schoolhouse biography.

A gunman came into Kuczka’s classroom, Room 323, and Kuczka went successful beforehand of him to support the students, her girl was told. It wasn’t instantly wide wherefore the gunman went to her country oregon if helium targeted a definite teacher.

Alexandria Bell, 16, was besides slain successful the rampage earlier constabulary stormed the schoolhouse astatine 3125 South Kingshighway and killed the gunman, who constabulary identified precocious Monday arsenic Orlando Harris, 19, a postgraduate past twelvemonth of the school.

“My ma loved kids,” her girl Abigail Kuczka said. “She loved her students. I cognize her students looked astatine her similar she was their mom.”

Former students and coworkers remembered Kuczka arsenic a dedicated teacher.

Jean Kuczka was an astonishing educator. She loved her students and helped them marque a quality successful the schoolhouse and community. This is simply a immense loss. I ever loved seeing her astatine the school. https://t.co/kohtIYnftQ

— Glenn Barnes (@SocratesAsksWhy) October 24, 2022

Glenn Barnes, an worker astatine St. Louis Public Schools, in a tweet called Kuczka “an astonishing educator” who made a quality successful her community.

“This is simply a immense loss,” Barnes said.

Jean Kuczka graduated from Lindbergh High School successful 1979. She attended Southwest Missouri State University, present Missouri State, connected a tract hockey assistance and was a subordinate of the 1979 nationalist title team.

She taught carnal acquisition astatine Seven Holy Founders successful southbound St. Louis County for 16 years. She aboriginal taught PE astatine Carr Lane mediate schoolhouse successful the St. Louis Public Schools system, past transferred to Central Visual and Performing Arts successful 2008. The schoolhouse website says she has taught health, idiosyncratic concern and PE.

Kuczka precocious began coaching transverse state astatine Collegiate, an SLPS magnet schoolhouse that shares a field with CVPA.

“This was her archetypal twelvemonth of empty-nesting, and she was looking for thing other to do,” Abigail Kuczka said. “She was decidedly looking guardant to status though. She was close.”

Kuczka was the parent of 2 sons and 3 daughters. One of her sons is simply a Eureka constabulary officer. She besides had six grandchildren. Her husband, Stephen Kuczka, choked up erstwhile reached by telephone Monday day but said helium didn’t privation to remark yet.

Abigail Kuczka said her parent talked astir information concerns astatine the precocious schoolhouse erstwhile past semester, telling relatives that a pupil from different schoolhouse brought a weapon into the building.

“She mentioned that, but different than that, she didn’t truly deliberation anything” astir information concerns, her girl said. “I mean, I deliberation radical deliberation it volition ne'er hap to them.”

Kuczka loved motorcycle riding and each twelvemonth would enactment successful an lawsuit to rise wealth to assistance combat juvenile diabetes. One of Kuczka’s sons was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes erstwhile helium was 10 years old, her girl said.