Heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and Amarillo is lucky to have so many citizens who are not afraid to jump in and help others and to act fast when the situation calls for it.
Members of the Amarillo Independent School District have recently gone beyond their normal roles as teachers into heroes and have saved lives and property by quick, safe actions, as recognized during a meeting Monday evening.
The school board and fire officials honored the teachers for their heroic efforts.
Choking victim aided by teacher
At the regular AISD meeting Monday, March 9, Palo Duro High School teacher Raymond Leverett was honored for heroic efforts in an incident at Palo Duro High School, along with staff at Olsen Park Elementary who assisted in putting out a fire near the school.
In October 2025, Leverett was in the hallway during the transition between class periods when a substitute teacher came out of one of the classrooms and motioned to Mr. Leverett that she was choking.
Leverett immediately recognized that she was in distress and went over to help her. She started turning blue, and he performed a couple of thrusts of the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging the obstruction.
He was honored with a plaque at the meeting and thanked by the AISD school board.
Teachers help put out fire near Olsen Park elementary
On Tuesday, Feb. 17, it was a particularly windy day with several grass fires already burning in the Panhandle. It was then that a group of Olsen Park teachers, who were overseeing the dismissal of students at the end of the school day, noticed smoke coming from the yard of a home across the street from the school.
They called 9-1-1, promptly ran across the street and began knocking on doors and alerting neighbors.
A few parents and/or citizens also assisted, and the group used water hoses and buckets of water to try and put out the fire. Although the fire department arrived in about three minutes, the fire had already quickly spread through two yards, so their efforts helped prevent it from being worse.
No one was hurt, and the damage was contained to the grass, but could have been much more extensive had the fire not been stopped.
The Olsen Park Elementary teachers recognized by the Amarillo Fire Department were Jenny Morgan, Natalie Winborne, C.C. Brooks and Heather Chico (substitute teacher).
Chief Jason May, Deputy Chief David Kouba, Community Liaison Jeff Justus, and Public Information Officer Jason Love were at the meeting to represent the Amarillo Fire Department.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo ISD honors teachers for their heroic efforts in emergencies
Reporting by Nell Williams, Amarillo Globe-News / Amarillo Globe-News
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