A Platte Canyon High School student was on his way to participate in a work program Wednesday when he took mental note of an oddity: a stranger sitting in a Jeep in the school parking lot.
Fifty-five minutes later, the Park County Sheriff’s Office was called to the school.
Other students also had seen the gray-haired man in the school, walking the hallways and reportedly even asking about female students, perhaps by name. Duane Morrison’s violation of the safe haven we consider schools to be was the beginning of a horrific series of events that sent chills through our collective soul. Morrison took six girls hostage, is said to have molested them, and killed one – Emily Keyes – before taking his own life.
A synopsis of a rambling Morrison note revealed Friday didn’t provide the kind of information we need to explain his senseless acts.
But one thing we can do – and must do – is renew our commitment to vigilance in our schools. It’s time to dust off emergency plans required after the mass murder at Columbine High School in 1999 and refresh our memories about how to best protect our children against such madness.
Across the state on Thursday, some school administrators wisely began checking school doors and patrolling their campuses with a fresh eye toward the threat from any predators.
At Sinclair Middle School in Englewood, the principal conducted a “threat drill,” in which teachers secured students, turned off lights, shut windows and pulled blinds. In 30 seconds, the school appeared empty.
At Bromwell Elementary in Denver, Principal Jonathan Wolfer sent parents an e-mail assuring them that safety precautions were in place, such as closed-circuit cameras, lockdown training and secured outer doors.
On Friday, tragedy struck a Wisconsin school when a 15-year-old brought two guns to his rural school. A custodian, students and teachers wrestled with the boy, but he broke through and fatally shot his principal.
Kenneth Trump, a national school safety expert, said that in the years following the Columbine tragedy, schools enacted security reforms that significantly improved safety. “The bad news,” he said, “is that this progress has stalled and is moving backward due to school safety funding cuts, an increased competition for time due to the focus on test scores, and complacency in many school communities.”
We need to make sure our school administrators stick with security measures. Our children must keep a wary eye for strangers in their midst and not hesitate to report anything amiss. Then we are left to hope it’s enough.
