Dave Cullen is a journalist and author who has been covering school shootings in America for two decades, starting with the mass shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., in 1999, and later, writing about the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in his book “Parkland: The Birth of a Movement.”
Education Week senior staff writer Evie Blad spoke to Cullen on how the shooting at Columbine High shattered the notion of safety at schools and about how educators, law enforcement, and American society is still grappling with its lessons 25 years later. Cullen mentions some resources for preventing violence and supporting survivors of shootings. Among them:
- Support for survivors: The Rebels Project is a peer support group for survivors of mass shootings named for the mascot of Columbine High School.
- Mental health screenings: More schools are using universal mental health screenings to help identify students who are struggling and may have plans to harm themselves or others.
- Identifying threats: Schools use threat assessment teams to respond to concerns students may intend to harm themselves or others.
