It’s been 20 years since two gunmen entered Columbine High School, killing 13 people, injuring dozens more and leaving a community and a school struggling to find a way forward.
But in those 20 years, the surviving students and staff, as well as the family and friends of those lost, have worked tirelessly to reclaim the space and show that hope and healing are possible.
In the aftermath of the shooting, Gerda Weissmann Klein, a Holocaust survivor, spoke to Columbine students. She shared her stories of pain and trauma, and told the students that they would get through it, former Principal Frank DeAngelis recalls.
“At Columbine High School, you’re going to be able to turn hatred into love and enlightenment. And you’re going to be a guiding light for the rest of the world,” DeAngelis remembers her saying. “And that rings out 20 years later. And that, I think, is what Columbine represents.”
Columbine 20th anniversary: Retired schools communications team member recalls tragedy
Marilyn Saltzman vividly remembers the events of April 20, 1999, and the aftermath — and says she learned lessons in all aspects of her life from the experience.
“It was a life-changing experience in terms of my career and personally,” said the 71-year-old Conifer resident, who was part of Jeffco Public Schools communications team. “The pain subsides, but the impact lasts forever. I’ve seen the goodness in people and the horrors.”
For Saltzman, who retired in 2002 after 20 years in the school district’s communications department, one of the biggest lessons was the need to build relationships. She explained that before the shootings at Columbine High School, school district communications professionals had never met public information officers from police and fire departments, hospitals, the county, park districts and others who were ultimately involved in the response after the shootings.
Now the PIOs meet regularly and have become friends and colleagues, she said, so they know who to call when any event — positive or negative — occurs.
Columbine High School doesn’t look like it did 20 years ago. Then again, most schools in the country don’t.
Main entrances often have cameras and intercoms to buzz in visitors, and a security desk sits just inside the door. Many now have school resource officers.
John McDonald, the executive director of Jeffco Public Schools’ school safety department, recalled how seeing a police car in front of a school 20 years ago was a source of drama and concern for parents and students alike. Now, it’s a normal and sometimes welcome sight.
Since 1999, things have changed drastically when it comes to school safety.
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