BUFFALO, N.Y. — At least one teacher, a coach and athletic director were among those killed in Wednesday’s deadly school shooting in Broward County, Florida.

"Teachers have to step up. Who else is going to step up? It's our job to protect the kids," said Buffalo Teachers Federation President Phil Rumore.

He says he not surprised that many teachers sprang into action when they learned an active shooter was inside Douglas High School.

"That's one of the responsibilities you accept when you're a teacher. You understand that days like this are going to occur and you prepare for it mentally. You know, you can never really prepare for the day when there is a shooter or somebody that's dangerous in the building, but you do prepare the best you can, then when it does occur, your one job is to protect the kids," said Rumore.

Rumore says teachers are instructed on what to do if a crisis should happen.

"They have drills all the time, they have lockdowns, they have drills, but basically teachers are taught to get away from the windows, lock the door, and take all the procedures that are necessary," said Rumore.

But he says that doesn't get to the root of the problem.

"We have to start focusing on ‘let's identify these students and these youngsters that have these problems. And let’s make sure that they don't have a gun,’" said Rumore.

Rumore says while there is no easy answer, he feels school districts around the country need to work together to address this problem.

“We have to start look at other school districts, other cities and places, the bottom line is we have to start identifying the students that have the problems and find out how we solve those problems. And where there are severe problems, we have to make sure that those students don't have access to weapons. And we work with those families because otherwise there's no way of telling when some student is going to snap," said Rumore.