The Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced With Adversity
2018 Recipient(s)
Yvonne Cech
On December 14, 2012, 18 fourth grade children and three staff at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, were herded into a storage closet by Cech, then a library media specialist at the school. She locked the door and barricaded it with book trucks and other available objects until the SWAT team arrived. She would not open the door until she verified the officers’ identity.
Diana Haneski
Five years later, during the siege at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, FL, Haneski remembered her friend Cech’s quick thinking and advice, and she acted accordingly. She shielded 50 high school students and five adults from harm in a large, barricaded equipment room. As Cech had done, she refused to open the door until she was certain the rescuers were who they claimed to be.
