Twenty years ago, everything changed. Yes, there had been school shootings in the United States before, including a famous incident at the University of Texas when a sniper opened fire from atop a clock tower. But there was something about the Columbine High School mass murders that altered the way we saw the world. Perhaps it was the series of images of students emerging from the school, hands over head, being led away in long lines, or the chilling security photos of the trench-coated killers holding semi-automatic weapons, or the story of a teacher who sacrificed his life to save students, or the ultimate realization that all of this destruction had come at the hands of two teenagers who had methodically schemed and stockpiled weapons, all while numerous adults missed or ignored the warning signs.

 

We as a country lost some of our innocence after 4/20/99. After that, schools would forever change their way of operating, focusing thousands of hours on risk management and security measures. Student behavior is now much more scrutinized and the potential danger signs are studied. When does the slightly odd or anti-social behavior of a student turn into a legitimate worry? No one dares to miss the danger signs anymore.

 

Not everything that emerged from the lessons of Columbine has been about restricting freedom and watching for suspicious behavior. The incident, along with the many other public acts of violence, have focused the nation’s attention on gun control (a worthwhile debate regardless of where you stand on the topic) and supporting student mental health. At Colorado Academy, we actively promote the idea that students need to take care of each other and seek out trusted adults when they are concerned about the mental health of a friend. Many of the old stigmas around seeking out mental health support have thankfully fallen away.

 

Still, we can easily find ourselves reliving the old traumas that Columbine inflicted. Whether it’s another horrific school shooting like Sandy Hook or Parkland, or even the potential for an impending event like we saw this week in Colorado, any new incident can bring us right back to that day twenty years ago. One woman with a shotgun and an apparent fascination with the Columbine killers brought this city’s schools to a standstill on Wednesday, as law enforcement tracked down what turned out to be a very credible threat. Those moments open the old wounds and raise the same questions: why are there people bent on mass murder and destruction? What can and should schools do to prepare themselves and respond to the concerns? How much do we want to trade our freedoms for more security?

 

I do worry about the cumulative effect of all this worry and anxiety about school shootings on our students and teachers. Although the odds of being involved in such an incident remain quite low*, the fear of such events affects all of us who work in education. We’d all much rather focus on academics, arts, and athletics. And, above all, we want our students to feel safe.

 

Twenty years ago. In some ways it seems like only yesterday; in other ways it feels like a long, long time ago when things were simpler. Never forgotten.