Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1999, Page 62

Description:	Shootings inColumbineSource: www. USAToday.comTragedy struck ColumbineHigh School in Littleton, CO,April 21 causing the death of 13people and throwing the nationinto fear and mourning. At 11 a.m.about 900 students were eatinglunch, working in the library orstudying in classrooms. At 11:30a.m. two students dressed in blacktrenchcoats opened fire in theparking lot and proceeded insidethrough the cafeteria and library,shooting at students.At noon, the police SWAT teamarrived and began searching theschool for victims and explosives.At 2:30 p.m., students inside theschool were released and reunitedwith their parents. At 4:00 p.m., asheriffs spokesman confirmed thedeaths of students and a teacher aswell as the suicides of gunmen,Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. At4:30 p.m., the school was declaredsafe. At 6:15 p.m., authoritiesfound an explosive device in a carin the parking lot and regardedthe campus as a crime scene. Allbodies remained inside.oCD£o9)CDo you approve or disapprove of the newprecautionary measures, such as lockingoutside and classroom doors and requiring aspecial permit to park in the front lot, thathave been taken in response to the Littletonshooting? Why do you feel this way and howhave the changes and shooting affected you?I disapprove of it because its not going to makeSouth any safer. If someone wants to do something,its not going to stop them because a door islocked. Theyre just looking for an easy solutioninstead of trying to fix the cause of it, junior BrentShelley said.[The locked doors] are inconvenient, and nobodylikes them. You cant get anywhere in the schoolnow. I dont think they are going to help much ifa crazed gunman comes. If the doors are lockedtheir friends can let them in or they can jam thedoors open, sophomore Eric Charles said.Im in a lot of activities, and I have to leave thebuilding after school for track. Then when I try tocome back in at 4:30 for Optimist or ScienceOlympiad, I cant get back in. One time I had towait for half an hour for someone to let me in,junior Rachel Shiffrin said.I think it is a good idea because the people thathave to leave during the day need a special spot.I dont think it makes the school much saferthough, because they have the front doors openanyway. junior Nathan Wrigley said.I believe that the locked doors are extremeparanoia and the whole thing is just to make usfeel safer. The effect of locked doors in school hasjust increased the level of stress in students,freshman Ben Maidi said.Do you feel safe at school? Why or why notand how have the precautionary measuresaffected how you feel about your safety?I feel totally safe at school, and I think the changesmight have made it a little bit safer, but not much.Teenagers get crazy ideas and if they haveproblems, they try to find the easiest way out. SoI think that somebody could do that here, but theywould get stopped really quick, senior EvaJaworowski said.If a teacher gives you a pass to go somewhereand all the doors are locked, you dont haveanywhere to go if something were to happenbecause youre not always going to be near theoffice or an unlocked door. I didnt have much ofa fear until [Littleton], now I do, junior KindraKing said.[I feel] about the same because if someone reallywanted to get into our room they could. The frontdoor is unlocked and that is where most peopleare. I think its worth trying, they might as well dosomething than nothing, freshman TedTouloukian said.THEANTHRAXSCAREQuotes Collected byChris CarterDressed in protective suits, members ofthe HAZMAT team enter the school todecontaminate the site. Students werereleased at 1 p.m. and some headed homein their cars while others were transportedto Bloomington North by bus, where theywere forced to wait until other buses cameto pick them up on the regular schedule.Preparing to enter thequarantined area of theschool, a member of theHAZMAT team listens toinstructions from FaronLivingston. At 11:40 a.m.on Tuesday Nov. 10,secretary Shannon Woodopened an envelopecontaining a letter, whichthreatened that the harmfulbacteria anthrax wasenclosed. After Wooddiscovered the letter,authorities took action andquarantined the 11 personsinside the office and thecommons area in front ofthe office was blocked off.The substance was laterfound harmless.C)Spread Design bvmini-magKim Kouka and Alison VanDerWegeAVERYTHATCHERSTUDENT RESPONSEWhat was your first reaction to hearing about the scare?At first I was excited to get out of school, but then I was alittle concerned because it could be potentially dangerous,sophomore Emily Thrasher said.Were you glad to get out of school early?It was nice to have an afternoon off, but after all the chaosit caused, it wasnt worth it. The one time was enough,hopefully it wont happen again, sophomore JacquelineRyan said.What was the worst part about the scare and ivhy?There wasnt a bad part of the anthrax scare. It got me outof swim practice and an AP biology quiz, junior LindseyKerr said.What were your views on the scare in general?I was able to miss sixth period, so I cannot complain. I wasnever scared about the consequences of what could havehappened if it were real, junior Phil Wozniak said.FACULTY RESPONSEHow did you react to the scare?I was just shocked. I really wasnt that frightened because Ifelt that it was most likely a hoax because of all the stuffthat was happening on television, Mrs. Shannon Wood,secretary, said.Wliat zvas your initial reaction when you heard about theanthrax letter, and how do you think the school did inhandling the situation?My initial reaction on finding [the anthrax] was, Whatsteps do we need to take to insure the health and safety ofthe staff and students? I thought that the students and staffreally handled themselves in a calm manner ... andmaintained their composure, Mr. Jim Rose, principal, said^
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/6068
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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