Columbine 20 years

[Zoe Girl]

It is this week. We have already had lock outs and lock downs. After school we had no outdoor time and I had to be extra careful about who I let in. The kids seemed okay, I didn't tell them anything except they were safe and it could be anything including the weather. It is actually a young woman obsessed with Columbine who is seeking guns. I knew that pretty early on, I realize it is tiring to maintain under the circumstances and I am worn out.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/16/us/columbine-high-threat/index.html


(https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/16/us/columbine-high-threat/index.html)I was talking to a friend
from my old school about something totally unrelated. She told me that they went on lock out after school. Apparently my former boss was there and had no clue what to do. Of course, it is only the safety of the kids after all.

Sirens just went by, I rarely hear them in this neighborhood. And people are talking about not sending their kids to school until she is caught.

[Teacher Terry]

That’s really sad.

[dado potato]

I sometimes wonder,

What have the experiences of mass shootings taught us about readiness, threat assessment, prevention, and responses?

How can communities foster resilience among kids and families?

[Zoe Girl]

Dado, I am not sure. I think that kids are more prepared than adults who are not in schools. They know about the shootings and what to do.

What helps communities is recognizing and valuing the connections that teachers and school staff have with children and families over test scores. Trusting teachers, listening to them and stopping the sell-out of American schools to businesses. Connection vs disconnection is being shown to affect addiction, mental health and the consequences. We talk it up and next month we cut teacher retirement funds or introduce a new test or suggest teachers carry guns.

[Teacher Terry]

No one should have to feel unsafe in a school. We need to follow other countries lead.

[dado potato]

My impression from reading newspaper accounts is that law enforcement in Florida and Colorado acted quickly to communicate their suspicion about Ms Pais, to assess the threat in the Denver area, to tweet a warning (2:48 PM Tuesday) to the schools (recommending all schools in the Denver area conduct a lockout and controlled release), and to convene a conference call of all school superintendents Tuesday evening. On the call the Superintendents' consensus was to close the schools on Wednesday and await developments.

An active "man-hunt" generated the report on Tuesday from an Uber driver, that he had dropped Ms Pais near Mt Evans Monday night. A daylight search of the Echo Lake area near Mt Evans found the body of Ms Pais, an apparent suicide.

The FBI investigation continues among her hometown acquaintances and in her social media, to identify any accomplices, any accessories.

In the past, law enforcement and school officials might have been hindered by "organizational silos". This incident shows a readiness to communicate across organizational boundaries with dispatch.

The owner of the licensed gun shop, which by all accounts conformed to Colorado law and performed a background check on Ms Pais (no past felony convictions, no mental health hold), and then sold her the gun and ammo with which she soon killed herself, wrote:
We are very sorry to hear of the outcome of this situation. It is never good when someone loses their life. We are praying for her family. And we are very thankful this situation did not escalate into a public tragedy.

[dado potato]

According to the Denver Post podcast "Bearing Witness: Columbine and the News Media" (Part 3) the "No Notoriety Campaign" has affected media reporting on mass shootings.

As a preventative measure, reporters and editors are urged to minimize the use of the perpetrator's name and photograph. In the past, media has been criticized for giving more prominence to the perpetrator than to the victims. Furthermore, the coverage of perpetuators enables people all over the world who may be infatuated. The No Notoriety Campaign seems accept one mention of the perpetrator's name, followed by non-identity references, such as "the shooter" or "the perpetrator". Media strives to honor the victims, when applicable, and law enforcement and first responders.

As a rule: if shooters are seeking attention (as often is a supposition), then don't give it to them. If a shooter has a "manifesto", do not publish it, dismiss it as screed.

While the man-hunt was underway it was considered ethical journalism to publicize the picture and name of Ms Pais and to characterize her as a person who was armed and dangerous, and who was infatuated with Columbine.

The podcast seems to be available on soundcloud to subscribers of the Denver Post.

[razz]

This poignant article explains some of the preparation that has resulted from the Columbine experience. It must be painful to live with the trauma of that time and the more recent horrors.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/20/us/columbine-shooting-anniversary-principal-frank-deangelis-20-years/index.html

[Zoe Girl]

I know that my daughter early after the Aurora Theater shooting refused to use his name, give him any attention and none of us watched the information on the trial. In this situation the law enforcement agencies were working to prevent a shooting, and they did. I was truly hoping along with many others that she could have been brought in and helped without anyone getting harmed. What they shared were the basic facts, not her manifesto, not characterizing her as crazy,

Razz i am in the district that includes Columbine. I actually went to high school at another school in the same district. There are really extensive ways that our district is prepared. And yet nothing is 100%. One thing is that the rise in reports on students with mental health needs is large, and all districts are working on that as an early intervention.

[bae]

There are really extensive ways that our district is prepared. And yet nothing is 100%.

I don't think there is a reasonable way to be 100%-prepared, alas.

Here in our district, we do several joint-agency drills a year on this sort of incident - how to respond to the incident-in-progress, and the aftermath.

I carry body armor as part of my response gear, and a special med kit with triage materials, and lots of tourniquets, hemostatic gauze, chest seals, airways, and other such things.

We also run several community "Stop The Bleed" trainings a year. ( https://www.bleedingcontrol.org/ )

Having now had to deal with several gunshot wound cases, I'd hate to experience it on a large scale. Even with training, experience, and support, it would be horrid.

[happystuff]

20 years since Columbine and all I keep thinking is... Good job people of New Zealand - once SHOULD be enough!

[Teacher Terry]

I totally agree HS.