Bailey
Months after a gunman strolled into Platte Canyon High School, took seven girls hostage and killed one of them, repercussions are being felt throughout the mountain community of Bailey.
The incident has brought bouts of widespread depression and increased stress, leading to a sharp rise in family arguments and prompting interventions with at least three students experiencing suicidal thoughts, according to Park County human services.
But the event also has resulted in some silver linings for students that were not fully anticipated.
Student Patrick Linnehan has, by all accounts, blossomed.
Described by his mother as a bit shy and marked by a typical teen’s aloofness, Patrick decided the tragedy was an opening to make positive changes in his life.
“You realize, ‘Wow, life can be fragile.’… I really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to try some new things,” he said.
Duane Morrison, a 53-year-old drifter, took Emily Keyes and six other girls hostage Sept. 27 and threatened to blow up the school before a SWAT team stormed the classroom. Morrison shot Keyes, then himself.
School Superintendent James Wolpole said that in the months that followed, discipline problems rose.
“We see more minor incidents of misbehavior. A kid pushes another kid and it tends to escalate a little more,” he said. “I’ve been told, based on other situations, that everything from divorce rates to the number of staff that resign or retire or transfer will be very high.”
Child-welfare referrals – which notably include conflicts between parents and children – jumped 56 percent, said Mary Baydarian, director of Park County’s Department of Human Services.
“The events of Sept. 27 frequently come up,” she said. “That’s the only factor I can point to and say: ‘This is different.”‘
After the shooting, Patrick said he and his schoolmates experienced symptoms of depression. He suffered from nightmares and spent about a month in a funk.
“Studying was hard. Almost everyone’s grades dropped a couple of percentages. You just couldn’t concentrate,” he said. “We still had tests. We still had homework. But none of us really wanted to do it. It didn’t seem as important anymore.”
Teachers and counselors were sympathetic and encouraged the teens to express their feelings in class and in private.
Pikes Peak Mental Health placed a full-time counselor in the school and a second at a new office in Bailey.
Officials requested school- wide sessions with the Colorado State Patrol’s Safe 2 Tell program in February, resulting in three interventions with students who had contemplated suicide, Baydarian said.
Making the best of it
All of this is to be expected, said Dr. David Schonfeld of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, an expert on the effects of emotional trauma on children. He has visited Bailey twice to consult with the community.
“What you will see is an increase in aggression and acting- out behavior. I refer to it as social regression,” he said. “When people are under stress … they are more irritable.”
Bailey, however, has set a textbook example of how to deal with the fallout, Schonfeld said.
Taking the initiative
“Some administrators get overwhelmed by a crisis event and will say: ‘It’s not my responsibility, and the parents should really be dealing with this.’ … This administration has taken the opposite approach.”
Although many students have taken advantage of counseling, they have tended to find more solace in one another.
“Once this happened, everyone had this to relate to,” Patrick said. “I’ve probably gained 100 friends since this happened, people I didn’t know before. We all went through it together.”
Patrick made what his parents, Annie and John Linnehan, describe as a full-scale transformation in his attitude.
“It’s really making something good out of something horrible,” Annie Linnehan said. “I think they feel that as a responsibility.”
Patrick changed his career goals. And without any singing or acting experience, he tried out for the school’s production of the musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” landing the role of Fyedka, the protective friend.
“I think a lot of my friends have taken the same approach I have,” the 17-year-old said. “We wanted to know what we could do to make the best out of it, and what we could do for Emily in her honor.”
Another classmate, Jaime Todd, has organized a letter- writing campaign for Platte Canyon students to show their support for Virginia Tech students in light of the deaths there last month.
“We just want to remind them in these dark times that it feels like you’re completely alone and that nobody is going to understand, and there are people in these unlikely places, like Bailey, Colo., and they’re not alone,” said Jaime, a 17-year-old senior.
“After Emily’s death, we received letters from other schools, and it really meant a lot to us.”
A new look at priorities
The classroom where the shooting occurred is closed off, and the school has upgraded security and recruited parents to monitor visitors.
But not a single student has withdrawn from Platte Canyon, and anticipated staff turnover is lower than average.
“People have asked: ‘How could you send your kid back after that?”‘ said Annie Linnehan. “It was kind of like, how could you not?”
Still, they have struggled, and reminders such as the slaughter at Virginia Tech dredge up painful memories.
Principal Bryan Krause said he couldn’t watch the news coverage for the first few days, and the school temporarily dropped its daily news show to avoid reopening emotional wounds.
As they have coped with the emotions, many students like Patrick have experienced what Schonfeld called “post-traumatic growth.”
Patrick said Keyes’ death has given him the benefit of perspective – to the point that the straight-A student no longer frets about a low test score.
“I think we matured a lot faster and kind of realized what was most important,” he said. “You can go off the deep end in mass depression, but what would that do for Emily’s honor?”
Staff writer Steve Lipsher can be reached at 970-513-9495 or slipsher@denverpost.com.
