TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Principal With 9/11 Link Dies

ADVERTISEMENT

The Associated Press

Published: December 28, 2007

SARASOTA - Gwendolyn Tose'-Rigell, the principal of the school where President Bush was when he learned of the Sept. 11 attacks, has died, school officials said Thursday. She was 56.

Tose'-Rigell died Wednesday evening, said Scott Ferguson, a spokesman with the Sarasota County School District. The cause of death was not available, but she had been receiving treatment for breast cancer.

Tose'-Rigell stepped down in August for health reasons after working at Emma E. Booker Elementary School for 13 years, school officials said.

Bush was reading to a classroom of students at Booker when he learned of the attacks. The school was thrust into the spotlight because of the attacks and Michael Moore's subsequent documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Moore criticized Bush for staying at the school after receiving the news and not reacting quicker.

In a 2004 interview with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Tose'-Rigell defended the president's actions.

"I don't think anyone could have handled it better," she said. "What would it have served if he had jumped out of his chair and ran out of the room?"

After his unexpected departure, Tose'-Rigell and other school workers had the difficult job of explaining the attacks to students. In 2006, students watched a two-minute taped address from the president about the attacks and the school.

"The president's thoughts and prayers are with her family and the students and teachers at Booker Elementary School," said Trey Bohn, a White House spokesman.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT