School Climate & Safety

Reeling Under the Collective Media Lights

By Jessica Portner — May 05, 1999 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

It’s tough to check out a book at the Columbine Public Library these days.

FBI and local law-enforcement officers are manning phones at the main desk. Federal Emergency Management Agency officials are camped at reading tables in the entryway. The communications staff of the Jefferson County school system is ensconced in makeshift cubicles in the reference section behind the encyclopedias.

As traumatized Columbine High School students drifted over to the library after the April 20 shootings that left 15 dead, it became the de facto communications hub for law-enforcement, school, and emergency workers. They gathered about a mile from the school, amid the library’s volumes, to coordinate strategy and get their message out to the world media.

Less than 24 hours from the time Columbine seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold shot and killed 12 students, a teacher, and themselves, dozens of television trucks and vans had squeezed into a parking lot near the school.

Kristy Loghry, a secretary at Leawood Elementary School, about a block from the park that has become a media compound, said that when she left work the night of the shootings, “their trucks were lighting up the park like it was daylight.”

So many eager reporters flooded the doors of the library for updates and interviews the next day, that district officials recruited library employees to act as bouncers.

Volunteers Answer the Call

Communications workers for the the Jefferson County district, more accustomed to churning out press releases on the suburban school system’s stellar achievement scores than reporting how many pipe bombs were found in a school cafeteria, put out a call for help.

With the aid of the National School Public Relations Association, volunteers from school districts in numerous states--including Maryland, Missouri, Virginia, and Wisconsin--showed up at their Colorado colleagues’ doorstep.

A spokesman for the local teachers’ union, the Jefferson County Education Association, also lent a hand.

Communications-staff workers in the district nearly tripled, from seven people to 20. Last week, the new recruits wired the library with extra phone lines, coordinated schedules, arranged meetings, and wrote “talking points” for district officials.

“I don’t think any district has seen anything of this magnitude in terms of media. It’s overwhelming,” said Marilyn Saltzman, the manager of communications services for the Jefferson County schools. Ms. Saltzman says the public relations professionals still answer an estimated 200 calls each day from members of the media.

So far, the district has spent $10,000 on plane fare, other transportation costs, and overtime pay for communications personnel. Local auto dealerships have provided cars free of charge, and many businesses and restaurants have provided the communications center with everything from free lunches to hotel rooms for the out-of-towners.

Many school workers are weary of the attention. “We are all just waiting for the media to leave,” Ms. Loghry, the secretary at Leawood, said.

Ms. Saltzman said it’s often difficult to provide journalists with the answers they are looking for. “The biggest thing is people are looking for the whys, and I don’t know the answer to the question. People are trying to make sense of a senseless act.”

Related Tags:

A version of this article appeared in the May 05, 1999 edition of Education Week as Reeling Under the Collective Media Lights

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Climate & Safety Opinion What Do Restorative Practices Look Like in Schools?
Such practices teach students how to resolve disputes amicably, own their actions, and be empathetic and forgiving.
9 min read
Images shows colorful speech bubbles that say "Q," "&," and "A."
iStock/Getty
School Climate & Safety School Dress Codes Often Target Girls. What Happens When Male Teachers Have to Enforce Them?
Male teachers say the task can put them in a risky and uncomfortable position.
11 min read
Image of articles of clothing on a coat hook outside a school entrance.
Laura Baker/Education Week via Canva
School Climate & Safety Are School Buses Safe? An Expert Explains
A perennial concern is getting new attention.
4 min read
Photo of rescue workers and turned over school bus.
Brandy Taylor / iStock / Getty Images Plus
School Climate & Safety A School Removed Bathroom Mirrors to Keep Students From Making TikToks. Will It Work?
The desperate strategy for keeping students in class illuminates the challenge schools face in competing with social media.
5 min read
Empty blue school bathroom showing the bathroom sinks without mirrors.
iStock/Getty