When Rasheima Hainey saw a student in her classroom throw a small, black-handled, serrated knife, she didn’t give herself time to think. He took action.

“You’re literally stepping into motherhood, so you don’t have time to be afraid,” Hainey said. “I thought, ‘Okay, if I get hurt, I can accept that, but I can’t go to this parent and say, ‘Oh, I’m sorry the child was with me, but there was nothing I could do.’ ”

Hainey, a special education assistant at Castor Gardens Middle School in the Northeast, was more than an eyewitness to the 11-year-old student’s experience. He stabbed two employees at the school on Tuesday.. He personally protected the students and warned the authorities of the danger present, risking his own safety in the process.

Hailed as a hero by Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Arthur SteinbergHainey shared his story with The Inquirer on Thursday.

” READ MORE: Weapons detection system does not pick up knives at Castor Gardens Secondary School, where two staff were stabbed this week

‘He has a knife!’

The boy was having a good day before he was stabbed; There were no major behavioral incidents.

Hainey, a special education assistant who works with all students in Room 108, an emotional support classroom for students with disabilities, was standing in the back of the room discussing a student’s grades around noon.

Suddenly there was a commotion and the students shouted “He has a knife!” they shouted. The 11-year-old had apparently taken out the knife to show it to his classmates.

However, the student’s attitude changed when the other students panicked. Almost immediately, he stabbed the paraprofessional assigned to be his one-on-one assistant in the arm.

Hainey took immediate action. Meanwhile, another student, a girl, was standing next to him; Hainey covered him and picked up the phone to alert the office that help was urgently needed.

“When he heard me on the phone with the office, he turned around and was walking towards me and the other student,” Hainey said. He took the girl in his arms and quickly left the room.

Not far away, a climate officer was sitting at his post. Hainey warned the climate officer that the student had a knife.

“When (the student) heard that, he pretty much turned (to the climate officer) and walked up to him and stabbed him in the stomach,” Hainey said.

The boy, who didn’t scream or say anything, was walking down the corridor where three more classrooms were located.

“He was walking down the hall, banging on classroom doors trying to get people to open the doors,” Hainey said. A door swung open. “My first instinct was: ‘Oh my God, he could stab them. It could have been bad; “He could have walked into that room and it’s unknown how many children were in that room.”

Hainey shouted for help once again. But the monitors, who were usually in the hallway, were in the cafeteria for lunch. A girl, unaware of the danger, was trying to use the toilet; He walked towards the corridor.

“I told her, ‘Honey, back off, I don’t want you to get hurt, you’ve got a knife,'” Haines said. The boy noticed the girl and started chasing her down the hall. Another staff member was able to catch the girl and take her to safety.

Meanwhile, Castor Gardens’ two school security guards were nearby, looking for the boy who had fled to another classroom and hid behind a bookcase. Finally, the police caught the boy and took the knife from him.

No charges were filed against the boy.

” READ MORE: Two staff stabbed at Castor Gardens Secondary School in ‘epic administrative failure’, union chief says

‘I love my job’

The child had had relatively good days leading up to the incident, even receiving rewards for positive behavior—juice or candy, a message to let the parent know he did a good job.

But Hainey said not all days are good days. There were times when the boy bit or cursed other students. Little things can bother him, including boredom.

“We had a couple of incidents (this year) where he walked into the cafeteria and started punching two girls in the face and kicking them,” Haines said. After the boy was taken to an office, he tried to throw a chair at Haines and another deputy.

“In the middle of this incident, he kicked me in the eye,” Haines said. All staff did the best they could with the boy learning in a classroom, often with nine other students and four adults, including Haines.

Although his job is difficult at times, Haines enjoys it and enjoys working with the children in his care. She is 29 years old and has been working as a special education assistant at Castor Gardens for seven years.

“Other than that, I love my job and the kids I work with,” he said. “I love coming face to face with different people every day and being able to brighten a day, whether it makes an impact big or small.”

Even though the incident weighed on him, Haines came to work Wednesday and Thursday.

Haines herself is a mother of three; She lost her 10-month-old baby two years ago.

“This was playing in my head; if I can help another mother save her child or keep her child from getting hurt, I’ll do it,” she said.

Haines said continuing to show up was the right thing to do, but “I’m beyond tired. If this happened once, what are the chances of it happening again?”

But Haines said he was staying at Castor Gardens; children need it. The child is worried about what will happen if he returns to the classroom.

“If it comes back, I’ll have to quit my job because I don’t feel safe,” she said. “I’m just playing it by ear right now.”

Because the student is a minor, district officials did not release his name or information about the consequences he might face.