Nevadans mourn victims; cite overall safety in schools

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, April 21, 1999 | 10:53 a.m.

Silverado High School teacher and coach Chuck Pope had chills and shortness of breath Tuesday night -- his reaction to a school shooting in Jefferson County, Colo., where he worked for 20 years.

Pope frantically called friends and former neighbors to find out if anyone he knew fell victim to gunmen who terrorized Columbine High School.

"I would hope that this would be an isolated incident that could only happen in other places," Pope said. "But the reality is that you turn on the TV and you see a school where you used to referee, a school you played against, where you used to watch kids run across the baseball field."

Pope, a Silverado softball coach, left Lakewood, Colo., six years ago for Las Vegas. He worked at Alameda High School and Lakewood High School in Lakewood and lived just 5 miles from Columbine High, a sports rival.

Pope said he couldn't imagine how the close-knit, affluent community he used to call home was dealing with the tragedy.

"I'm just totally shocked," Pope said.

Pope always felt safe at his schools in Jefferson County.

"It's upper-middle class America," he said.

Bullets began ripping through the Colorado school at about 11:30 a.m. MDT and dominated newscasts throughout the day, but Pope did not hear about the shooting until Tuesday night. He immediately made a few calls to friends in Colorado to find out more.

"It seems like everything is still pretty sketchy," he said. "This is a heart-stopping, breath-taking situation."

Local school officials on Tuesday stressed that Clark County schools are safe, but no school is completely immune to gunfire.

"You can't discount the fact that incidents of violence can erupt anywhere," Clark County School District spokesman Ray Willis said. "But safety is paramount in the Clark County School District. Everybody, every school-based staff member, is dedicated to the safety of students."

Willis added that fewer than 40 students are killed by gunfire at schools each year nationwide. The United States has more than 20 million middle school and high school students.

"The reason the media focuses on violence in schools is that schools are perceived to be the safest places in America, and they are," Willis said.

Students in local high schools were talking about the shooting today.

"I don't think it could happen here," Bonanza sophomore Michelle Luke said. "It's just not that open a school. It's not two stories, we don't have an open courtyard."

Freshman Krystal Haifley added, "We have cops here."

Sophomore Adam Poss said there are misfit students in every school.

"There's a lot of guys like that -- I have this one dude in one of my classes who talks about killing people," he said, adding, "It's just crazy; (the students in Littleton) just walked into school and started shooting people."

Bonanza principal Sue DeFrancesco said students were expressing "compassion and astonishment." She hopes the shooting does not rekindle debates about whether local schools need widespread use of metal detectors and closed campuses. That amounts to "setting up a high line of defense in response to a random act," she said.

"School police are on top of the so-called organizations and gangs, and they know that they are not restricted to certain schools or certain areas," she said.

Bonanza High School freshman Sophie DeLand said no one in her circle of friends ever worries about killing sprees inside the walls of the school.

"Every time a school shooting happens, it's a student crying for help, and nobody seems to be listening," DeLand said. "It is an isolated incident, but (school shootings) are growing. It's becoming much more serious that students have to go to this extent to get people to listen."

DeLand participated in a small conference last week in Las Vegas, where local educators, parents and police huddled to talk about school safety.

Several conference organizers noted then that the issue of guns in schools had faded since the 1997-98 school year, marked by school shootings in Springfield, Ore.; Jonesboro, Ark.; and Fayetteville, Tenn.

"This shooting is certainly going to bring this issue back to light," said Sue Strand, president of the Clark County Classroom Teachers Association, an organizer of the safety conference. "I just wish people could find in their hearts a way to deal with their conflicts. Violence doesn't solve anything."

Two school shootings stand out in Clark County history. In March 1982, Clarence Piggott, a popular Valley High School teacher, was fatally shot by Patrick Lizotte, one of his students. Piggott Elementary School was named in his honor.

In August 1990, 16-year-old Donnie Lee Bolden was shot and killed on the first day of school in the Eldorado High School cafeteria. Police said the shooting likely was gang-related. Bolden is the only student to die in a school-day shooting in Clark County.

This year Clark County School Police have confiscated 37 guns -- 15 were BB or pellet guns -- in Clark County's 227 schools, school police chief Dan Reyes said. School police recovered 67 guns last year.

"We're doing much better this year," Reyes said.

Reyes said Clark County does more to keep children safe than most districts.

Reyes said only 117 districts nationwide maintain school police forces, such as the 110-officer force in Clark County.

This year, the district launched a program called Z-Squared, aimed at curbing school violence. As part of an older program called Operation Crime Free Schools, students are encouraged to dial a hot line, 799-0228, to anonymously report weapons in schools.

"The Z-Squared program has not flourished as much as its full potential," Reyes said of the fledgling program. "But the kids, the community, and the school district police officers have this teamwork concept. Kids know there are things they can do to report guns to their principal."

Gov. Kenny Guinn, a former Clark County superintendent of schools, joined other elected officials nationwide, including President Clinton, making statements about the shootings.

Guinn suggested that teachers should encourage students to share ideas about how to make schools safer.

"The sad, terrible message of this tragedy is that children are not safe at school anywhere, and I'm sure Nevada students are understandably dealing with a lot of anxiety today," Guinn said in a written statement.

"I'm asking teachers to give students a chance to talk openly today about their fears in light of the Colorado tragedy."

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