Recently, the Superintendent of Jefferson County Schools in Colorado suggested that Columbine High School be torn down due to the continuing morbid fascination with the school’s infamous history.
Now, before we get into the heart of this story please allow me to just say that I am not part of the Columbine community. I haven’t even been to Colorado in my life. I’m just some loudmouth on the internet who was sort of dragged into writing about Columbine after a case of mistaken internet identity twenty years ago.
Anyway, Superintendent Jason Glass has suggested tearing down the school and rebuilding it nearby. His plan calls for replacing the current location of the school with fields and controlled entry points. However, the name, colors and the mascot of the school would remain the same. This proposal even has the support of former Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis. As you may know. Mr. DeAngelis was the principal at the time of the Columbine shootings and only retired a few years ago. He’s also been the target of harassment by Columbiners, other school shooters, and would be shooters.
I’m actually torn on this issue because my heart says that leaving the school standing shows that Columbine will not be defined by the shooting and let the columbiners be damned. On the other hand, I recognize the issue of the need for tighter security that a new building would provide since legislators refuse to take any real measures to prevent threats of violence against our schools. So in essence, I could support either measure.
The only problem I have with the new proposal is that I don’t think it will stop the fascination that the troglodytes of the world have with Columbine. As I’ve mentioned in the past, and as the Sol Pais incident has shown us, many of the Columbiners see making a trip to Littleton as a pilgrimage like it’s some kind of Mecca of murder. Changing the location of the school won’t change that, in my opinion. Even if the name and colors were to be changed the cretins would still refer to the new school as Columbine.
Tearing down schools where shootings have happened is not something new. The Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania was torn down after the attack there. More prominently, Sandy Hook Elementary School was also torn down after the tragedy there. However, neither of these schools had the lasting impact on the wrong people like Columbine has. The shooters at Nickel Mines and Sandy Hook are portrayed as violent lunatics while the Columbine crowd looks at those shooters as outcast heroes by believing the mistruths and rumors about Columbine that have long been disproven.
Ultimately, I’ll support whatever the real Columbine community decides. Sadly though, I don’t think either option will fix the morbid fascination problem.
What do you think? Do you think that Columbine should be demolished or should it remain standing in defiance? Please leave a comment below.
Real Crime with Trench Reynolds 
I got the email from Dr. Glass along with the survey to complete and there is a little bit more here than is being discussed. But I don’t really have a dog in this fight, I live in the Jeffco school district but it is a big-ass school district. My kids were in elementary school when it happened. Just want to be clear on this, I wasn’t personally affected. That said, all of us in Colorado were affected and continue to be affected by the tragedy at Columbine. My daughter-in-law is a graduate of Columbine, she was 9 when it happened. Her older siblings were there that day. They still suffer PTSD. They don’t talk about it.
I have friends whose kids were there that day. I didn’t know any of the injured or killed.
I asked my daughter-in-law what she thinks about tearing down her HS. (My daughter-in-law is a 5th-grade teacher in the Jeffco School district.) She had a couple of things to share with me, first- she doesn’t think it will solve the problem. Second- she doesn’t understand why Dr. Glass didn’t discuss some of the problems with the current building. It is old. it needs a lot of work. There have been sewer back ups that have leaked into the gym. There are other issues too. One way or another, Columbine is going to cost us a lot of money.
My daughter-in-law says there are tourist buses that drive by the school. They were doing that even back when she attended. Does anyone else find that insane??
She actually doesn’t want to see it torn down. She feels a strong sense of community there. It saddens her that her neighborhood was brought together by such a horrific event, she wishes they had come together before that.
She would like the solution to be the best fiscally responsible choice. She would like to see enough money saved on the project to be able to provide better mental health services, specifically a school psychologist or counselor for every school in the district. If this can be done she doesn’t care about the building itself, repair it or demolish it, it doesn’t matter.
My own opinion on the subject is a bit different. I will share it, but again, this isn’t my neighborhood school, it is only my school district. I don’t feel like my opinion should be weighted the same.
I say, tear that building down. Do not build ANOTHER memorial park (Clement Park is practically next door and already serves that function). Personally, I would love to see a street go through the property. Let people try to guess where exactly the old building stood. Let the tour buses roll on by. If not a street, maybe another one of those awful apartment/condo buildings that are going up everywhere. Lol!! Let the weirdos come worship at one of those places!!
The Sol Pais incident was like the last straw for me. Hundreds of schools were closed because of her. Hundreds. Not dozens or a few. I don’t blame Columbine HS for this. I don’t even blame poor little Sol. I blame our government for not doing their damn job and getting control of our gun problem. In the end, the population most vulnerable to this crap is the school kids. So tear down that building that seems to be a glowing neon sign for mentally unstable kids with a death/murder wish. (Yes, I know there is no evidence Sol went anywhere near the school itself.)
I don’t know if people who aren’t from around here are aware, but the Columbine is our state flower. That is why the school was named that. It is also the name of a bajillion other things here. I live near 3 parks all named Columbine Park. There are so many things in this state with the word Columbine in it. One less building with this name may be a very good thing.
Build a new school and give it a new name. A fresh start. But that’s just my opinion.
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Great comment Lori. I’m glad to have gotten some feedback from a local resident.
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Tear it down. Regardless of a noble sentiment, the school IS defined by the shooting. It’s a veritable Mecca for sycophants on the issue. While lesser known schools might endure the stigma, realistically Columbine will always be THAT school.
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Another great point. It’s always Columbine but never any other school that has sadly had a shooting. You never hear about these creeps going to Virginia Tech or Parkland.
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Don’t tear down Columbine HS. Here’s why:
1. Demolishing the building, even at this late date, smacks of destroying evidence. If you have traffic and sightseers now, wait til alt media start flogging — “SANDY HOOK REDUX: COLUMBINE DEMOLISHED; SECRET EVIDENCE DESTROYED!”
2. Whatever happened at that school, happened. People — get over it and don’t snowflake out. Time to be a big boy/girl and deal with it.
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