The small, occasionally boisterous but often hushed group of women gathered around a set of tables one recent afternoon at a Newtown restaurant could have been mistaken for any group of friends or co-workers meeting up for some late day chat and a beverage.

But a closer listen would reveal the group to be Sandy Hook School staffers discussing their inspired plan to take a national tragedy they all experienced first hand on December 14, 2012, and channel their collective experiences spreading a message about common sense gun law reform and the need for related legislation.

The group has since been the focus of a special report by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting and its journalists Jessica Boehm and Sarah Ferris (the latter, a Newtown native, is now a reporter for The Washington Post, and a former Newtown Bee intern). And this week, several members of the group were prepping for interviews that will eventually be compiled into a piece by the New York-based news website Buzzfeed.

According to a release the group first circulated to colleagues nationwide through the American Federation of Teachers in late August, about 19 months after the shooting at Sandy Hook School, a group of nearly four dozen faculty and staff members united to speak out against gun violence across America.

Inspired by the work of thousands of advocates around the country, and by Richard Martinez’s Not One More call to action after the shootings in Isla Vista, Calif., last May, the Sandy Hook contingent decided it was time to use their positions as survivors and educators to pressure fellow Americans and lawmakers to implement comprehensive changes.

“There have been more than 45 school shootings since 12/14. We see gun violence continue to ravage communities and families. As survivors and educators who cannot sit idly by, we feel we must contribute to the efforts for change,” said Abbey Clements, a second grade teacher at Sandy Hook.

This summer, the educators had experienced a full year of teaching in an environment where many students and adults continue to struggling in the aftermath after losing 20 of their students and six of their colleagues in the tragic mass shooting.

“These women and men have literally put their lives and well-being on the line for their students, and are ready to stand up for change so that other communities and schools do not have to experience what they are,” their AFT release states.

That release also quotes Karen Wilk, a longtime paraeducator at Sandy Hook School, relating a message for parents and fellow educators around the country: “If you think it couldn’t happen in your school or in your community, think again. If it could happen at Sandy Hook, it can happen anywhere. It is our responsibility to make sure it doesn’t.”

Among the first actions the group has taken, is responding to the lack of action taken by members of Congress to reduce gun violence in all communities. So they partnered with the AFT asking their colleagues across the country to attend town hall meetings in their districts and states during lawmakers’ August recess when they would be back in their home districts and much more accessible to grassroots contact.

During those events, teachers were asked to read an open letter by the Sandy Hook faculty and staff asking for support on gun reform measures, most specifically the Manchin-Toomey universal background checks bill in the Senate and the King-Thompson proposal in the House.

“For educators from preschool through college, this is not about politics; this is an issue of safety and peace in the most sacred of spaces in our communities: schools,” the release states.

The Sandy Hook educators recognize that many issues must be addressed to reduce gun violence, and are identifying six sub-issue focus points: access to firearms, brain health, engaging parents, mobilizing educators, corporate responsibility, and media responsibility.

These Sandy Hook School colleagues, and a growing number of local, state, and national supporters are only in the early stages of speaking out against gun violence, and hope their voices as teachers and staff, and as survivors, can help make the changes they hope to see happen.

“While our number one priority remains our Sandy Hook School community, we can no longer sit on the sidelines and watch as more and more children’s lives are traumatized by gun violence. It is for the children who survived, and in honor of the 26 we lost that we have chosen to stand up and be heard,” said Sandy Hook library staffer Mary Ann Jacob. “We believe we are at a tipping point.”

Newtown School Superintendent Joseph V. Erardi, Jr, said if legislation or any energy can be generated toward creating a safer school environment through anyone’s efforts, including those representing Newtown district staff, he “is all in.”

“I applaud our local staff for standing tall and expressing what they believe in and supporting safer schools,” the superintendent said.