Posted: 3/31/05
School officials ponder Red Lake lessons
By Joel Stottrup
When students returned to Princeton Public Schools on Monday after spring break, it had been a week since the shootings that took 10 lives and wounded seven more at the Red Lake Indian Reservation in Minnesota.
A student at Red Lake High School shot his grandfather and the grandfather's companion, then drove to the high school and shot 21 people, killing seven, before shooting himself fatally.
No students at Princeton High School sought help from a counselor on Monday in response to the Red Lake tragedy, said interim PHS principal Pete Olson.
But the Red Lake rampage, the worst school shooting since the one at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo. in April 1999, that took the lives of 14 students and one teacher and wounded 23, did cause some activity by some staff at PHS.
Olson and police liaison officer Todd Frederick, as a result of the Red Lake incident, met with assistant principal Ryan Jensen to review the school's crisis-management plan on Monday.
Administrators at PHS had already beefed up the school's security system and had worked on improving their crisis management plan after the fatal shootings of two students at Rocori High School in Cold Spring in central Minnesota in September 2003.
But the meeting that Olson, Frederick and Jensen conducted Monday morning was clearly prompted by the Red Lake tragedy, Olson allowed. "It's natural for us when there is an incident like that [at Red Lake] that we always refresh ourselves on our policy," he said. "It's probably important to do on a regular basis, because things change. Staff changes and the needs of the school changes."
PHS has new video surveillance cameras this year that replace older models and the school has reduced entrance points into the building.
Also, all the door locks are being replaced as part of general maintenance at the school and staff members are being given electronic pass cards for entering locked doors. One of the features of the pass cards is that when they are used, the security system records the identity of the person the card is registered to and shows when it was used.
Officer Frederick, who has an office at the high school, last Friday expounded on the work that has been done by PHS staff to prepare for any potentially harmful incidents at the high school. He also talked about the sensitivity of he and staff members to any reports that a student is being harassed or bullied. Whenever there are reports of any such incidents, "we deal with it right away," Frederick said. "We treat everything with seriousness."
The piece about prevention is so important, Olson said. One of the benefits of the new five-period day at PHS that began this school year, Olson pointed out, is that a directed-study period has been added to the schedule.
Directed study allows students time and more opportunity to talk with teachers, counselors, administrators or the liaison officer about any problems they are having, said Olson.
"It helps keep the communication lines open," Frederick agreed.
"The key is to help kids before the fact," said Olson, "so we don't have to deal with an incident like at Red Lake."
Princeton Union-Eagle
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Princeton, MN 55371
Telephone: 763-389-1222
Fax: 763-389-1728