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Photograph by Ryan Olein
Dead Serious: Leah Verhoeven shares her thoughts about the atrocities of the Columbine shootings during a class discussion Friday afternoon at Leigh High School.
Tragedy at Littleton forces students and teachers to watch for alienation
Officials and peer counselors say some kids need more help than is now available
By Genevieve Roja
By now, their names are familiar to us. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, the two young men responsible for the senseless shooting spree at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. last week, have become part of our everyday dialogue. The incident--now billed as the worst school shooting in U.S. history with 15 casualties (including Harris and Klebold)--has prompted concerned communities across America to look inward. And naturally, they're asking the questions too. How safe are our schools? Where did we go wrong? Could this happen here?
As is the case in high schools nationwide, students and administrators in the Campbell Union High School District have been contemplating the event.
"I can't explain the fear of thinking, 'What if it had been my students?'" said Terri Frase, a teen counselor at Leigh High School who taught history last year. "We have a huge responsibility to be pro-active; it's a privilege and holds me accountable."
Del Mar High School principal Bruce Samples immediately sprang into action following news of the tragedy that unfolded in Colorado. He went to the Peer Counseling group and asked if they'd be able to handle students who'd need help. He talked to students and teachers, to get the climate on what was happening. Samples also met with his faculty to discuss and reinforce the school's safety plan, issued a special "audio bulletin" to the students, and initiated a moment of silence to reflect on the tragedy.
"My number-one responsibility is the safety of our students," Samples said. "I'm a firm believer of the students at Del Mar High School. Sometimes they do weird things, but they're kids. The difficult thing [about the Columbine shooting] is that it could happen anyplace."
Like officials in so many other schools now awakened to the severity of the matter, Samples doesn't see an easy solution.
"I'd hate to see schools starting to put up metal detectors or high fences," he says. "I don't know what the answer is, but I'm hoping society can analyze this and change."
Klebold and Harris, members of a misfit clique called the "Trenchcoat Mafia" who were reportedly seen parading around the campus in steel-toed boots and black trench coats and embraced a deranged version of the "Goth" lifestyle, seemed to represent high school young people who were misunderstood and, just as easily by their peers, dismissed. With every Dick and Jane, there's an Eric and Dylan, and it seems to be the reality of many high schools today.
"My friends were saying and thinking, 'Who would be doing that here? Who would follow that example?'" said Leigh sophomore Luke Bailey in reference to the action taken by the duo. "I asked myself, what would I do if something like that happened? I don't know what feelings I'd be going through if somebody got shot."
Classmate Stephanie Condon couldn't fathom the idea that Columbine was the work of two students.
"I found it hard to believe when I first heard," said Condon, a sophomore. "What pushes the kids to go over the edge? Those kids were teased, but it doesn't make the killings justifiable. What makes them feel they have the right to take out their anger so violently?"
The two admit that there are students like that at Leigh, some who are withdrawn, are quiet, intellectual, and have few friends. There are also some who dress Goth, a lifestyle which includes listening to groups like Maralyn Manson among others, wearing black clothes, white make-up and black lipstick, or who have an affinity for role-playing games. While most so-called Goths are clearly just teenagers experimenting with a different way of looking and acting, Frase feels that some Leigh students take the lifestyle too seriously.
"They're trying to spook people," Frase said. "They get a thrill of freaking people out. I counsel a lot of these kids; they really do believe they have a certain power."
High school is a time of personal growth, and each student handles it differently, says CUHSD superintendent Dr. Bruce Hogger.
"The adolescent period is a difficult time to go through," Hogger said. "A lot of things are happening in their lives and maybe it makes them vulnerable to the groups they seem to attach to at times."
Like Klebold and Harris, who were reportedly harassed and teased by several students, there are always going to be kids who are mistreated by their peers.
"I think people need to watch themselves and watch what they say," said Bailey, who said that there is a student in one of his classes who is made fun of.
Classmate Jacob Blaze said his church youth group discussed the teasing that goes on toward alienated students.
"We talked about how a lot of kids are teased and how to make a difference about it, and how to include them," said Blaze, a sophomore.
At Blackford Continuation School, school counselor Carrie Loughmiller, who also facilitates a peer advisory group, said that many of her students felt that brand of teasing isn't a problem at the school.
"They said that at regular schools sometimes, you're made to feel outcasted," Loughmiller said. "Here, people don't do that to each other. Some people think we're more at risk for these kind of events, but it really confirmed for me that maybe they're less at risk [at Blackford] because the students feel like they belong here."
As far as safety at the school, the students are made aware that Blackford adopts a zero-tolerance policy on disruptive behavior even before they enroll. This is done "so that we get off on the right start with them," says Loughmiller.
If there's a student experiencing personal or emotional problems, Loughmiller makes sure the proper referrals are available for the student, either by notifying a teacher or the principal or getting the student in crisis counseling, depending on the seriousness of the problem. The sooner it's dealt with, the better, says Loughmiller, who knows all too well that being alienated and disenfranchised is one of the biggest risk factors among teens.
Maybe intervention like that might have helped prevent the tragedy at Columbine, but we will never know for sure.
"We are so sympathetic to the community, to the students and parents that are involved in this horrible incident at Columbine High School," said Hogger. "It just goes to show you how fragile the teenager's psyche is at times. That bothers us; you have to be on alert full-time."
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Campbell, California
