Six months after the shootings at Columbine High, how is the community
doing? What changes have been made? Are they moving on? This week -- America's
Safe Schools Week -- Education World looks back at the tragic events and
looks at how schools in Jefferson County, Colorado, are coping now.
The nation watched, over and over again on videotape, as he dragged
his injured body over a window transom, escaping the rampage of gunfire
inside Columbine High School, and tumbled two stories to SWAT team members
below.
Last month that boy, 18-year-old Pat Ireland, was elected homecoming
king at Columbine High School. Still partially paralyzed from shots to
the head and foot and undergoing intensive physical therapy, Ireland is
emblematic of the high school, the town of Littleton, and the schools
of Jefferson County. Injured but healing, they are moving forward the
best they can.
"The fear of safety continues, but life goes on," said Nancy Newquist,
a staff member at a Jefferson County high school 8 miles from Columbine."
My co-worker's son was shot several times in the leg. He has healed physically
but has a long way to go in healing emotionally."
Jefferson County Public Schools, which includes Columbine, operates
16 high schools in the 780-square-mile Colorado county. "The counselors
are always ready to help anyone who has fears, and their services have
been used greatly this year," Newquist told Education World. "The emotional
stability at my school is fragile, but not as fragile as [at] Columbine,
I'm sure. The students at my school have friends and relatives attending
Columbine, and the tragic event affected our school very deeply."
Measures have been taken to allay those fears at Jefferson County high
schools. For example, entry is limited to main entrances, and only visitors
with valid identification are admitted. All faculty, staff, and students
must wear picture identification badges at all times. A police officer
and two security guards have been fixtures at Newquist's school for some
time, and extra security personnel are now employed on days when "there
may be trouble," she said. The school district now has an 800 number that
students can call if they hear of any threats or rumors of someone carrying
a weapon.
ZERO TOLERANCE FOR TEASING
At Columbine elementary schools, where the innocence of young children
still reigns, the fears have been quicker to subside, the path to status
quo a little smoother. "Things were different right after the shooting
-- parents were at school a lot more," said Jeanne Shirley, who teaches
fifth grade at one of the county's 92 elementary schools.
"This year, we've tried to make it as normal as we could," Shirley said.
For the most part, the school has succeeded. "I think most teachers and
students feel like I feel -- that [the shooting] was a bizarre incident
and the chances of it happening again are slim to none."
Still, the school has convened a committee, of which Shirley is a member,
to formulate a crisis management plan. The committee is devising procedures
to deal with hostage situations, explosions, "any kind of violent act,"
Shirley said.
In day-to-day situations, "we've talked a lot more about zero tolerance
for teasing and taunting," she said. "We're more aware of that being a
potential problem."
The school has had a peer mediation program in place for years that
teaches students the skills to resolve conflicts to everyone's satisfaction.
"These are just skills they need for life," Shirley said.
NEED FOR CULTURAL CHANGE
But such a program didn't prevent the Columbine shootings. The lessons
to prevent such tragedy must come from a broader spectrum than schools,
says Jefferson County district attorney Dave Thomas. Such lessons must
come from society as a whole.
"What I hope is that [the Columbine tragedy] touches enough people that
we can have a huge cultural change," Thomas said in an interview with
the Chicago Tribune. "I've seen one very large change in my lifetime
surrounding people's drinking habits. When I was a young prosecutor, when
we'd get off work at 5 p.m., we'd go to the neighborhood bar, and we generally
were there many hours. If you went to a chamber of commerce meeting at
11:30, they'd roll out the hospitality cart and everybody would have a
couple of drinks before lunch. That just doesn't happen anymore.
"I think the same kind of change has to happen around violence. And
I'm not just talking physical violence. I'm talking about verbal and emotional
violence, the way we talk to our kids, the way we discipline kids, the
way we intimidate spouses. I'm hoping that if we take violence as our
focal point, that we can make it unacceptable. It's like a drunk person
walking into the room. We used to laugh at him. We don't do that anymore.
It's not funny. It's actually very sad. We know that now.
"If we could change our attitudes toward violence, our fear of each
other, it might change the way that I relate to my neighbors. Maybe we'll
spend more time going to the people who live next door and say, 'Hey,
can I do something to help you?' and we won't be so isolated."
LOOKING FORWARD
In the months since the tragedy, the town of Littleton and the schools
of Jefferson County have been anything but isolated, in ways both good
and bad. Besieged by the media for so long, school district personnel
are understandably encouraged to keep looking forward and discouraged
from talking to the press. On the positive side, discussion groups set
up on the Spirit
of Columbine Web site are keeping parents and others in close touch
with one another.
The site fosters connections in more ways than one. A list of crisis
phone numbers can be found there, as can a collection of poetry submitted
by those involved with the tragedy both distantly and intimately. None
illustrates the heart-ripping devastation of violence as well as the powerful
"Columbine,"
by Ardent Tly, whose son was killed in the shootings. Another poem, "Please
Remember," by P. S. Walker, is a reminder to everyone who teases and
to everyone who is teased; it would be a worthy addition to any classroom
wall:
Please Remember
Please take a minute to remember
What teasing, name calling, and ridiculing can do
The harm that it can cause
The people that it can hurt
The turmoil that it adds to
As I try to figure out where I fit in
I am someone's son
I am someone's daughter
I am someone's pride and joy
I am the center of someone's universe
Please don't classify me
For the clothes that I wear
Or for the music that I listen to
Because I may be short or tall
Because I am fat or thin
Don't classify me
For the color of my skin
Please don't categorize me
Because I excel academically or athletically
Because I may be an honor student
Because I may play sports
Or because I'm none of the above
Don't call me a nerd, geek, preppy, or a jock
I just do some things better than you
And other things not as well
Am I different from you, or
Are you different from me
Aren't we just individuals
Each trying to make our own way in life
Please take a minute to remember
I am someone's son
I am someone's daughter
I am someone's pride and joy
I am the center of someone's universe
Shirley, who had taught some of the students who were killed at Columbine
last spring, thinks as vital as it is to learn from the shootings, it's
equally important to maintain perspective. "As a teacher, I haven't felt
any different for my safety," she said. "I really feel that public schools
are as safe as they can be. We need to move forward."
A
Slow Healing: Jefferson County Schools Move On