An Idaho principal reportedly died from an apparent suicide after recently recounting the impact that school tragedies had on him as an educator.
Coeur d’Alene High School principal Troy Schueller died Wednesday at Kootnai Health Hospital from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Spokesman-Review reported.
“This is a horrific incident that we all need to help each other recover from, and this will not be over in an hour or day or week,” Superintendent Stan Olson said in a statement. “It will take time and focus and effort. The district will do all we can.”
His death comes after he talked candidly last year about several harrowing incidents during his career.
He said a fatal bus accident in January 2001 was never far from his mind. When he was a wrestling coach at Kellogg High School, the team was en route to a tournament, and the bus driver, George Wild, died from cardiac arrest at the wheel.
Schueller and another student were critical in stopping the bus, the newspaper reported.
“I was just doing my job trying to protect my kids,” Schueller said.
He reportedly stepped down from the wrestling coach position following the crash.
“When that accident happened, I was in the hospital for five days with a broken jaw, broken knee and broken ankle,” Schueller told the Coeur d’Alene Press. “The very first person on scene was my pregnant wife, and thoughts go through my mind if I really should be doing this. I sat down with that year’s juniors and told them I’m hanging it up and I can’t do this anymore.”
In 2010, he was still employed at Kellogg High School as an administrator when a graduate whom he was close with, Tim Bush, was killed in a mining accident. He had kept a relationship with Bush’s family after he graduated — even attending his football games at the University of Montana.
“He was a hard-working kid,” Schueller said. “He put his heart and soul into everything he did.”
Authorities have not disclosed the events leading up to the beloved principal’s death. It is not clear if he left a suicide note.
“Our community is grieving the loss of our dear friend and colleague,” Trina Caudle, director of secondary education, said in a statement to the Spokesman-Review. “Troy truly, deeply cared about everybody. As principal at Coeur d’Alene High, his top priority was to improve the culture of the school and make sure all students and staff knew they were cared for.”