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School spokesman Rick Kaufman said his first reaction to the news Monday morning was "Not again! You seem to go along a period of normalcy if you will -- although Columbine has a new 'normal' -- but every two steps you take forward, events like this push you four steps back. And it's very difficult to continue along that path of recovery and healing. With Columbine it seems like it's even more magnified. That's a lot to ask for [teenagers]. They've been through a tremendous amount."

Officials decided early Monday morning to keep the school open, after police assured them there was no immediate or long-term threat to the school.

"Mental health workers found [school] is the best place for kids in a crisis," Kaufman said. "To be where they can talk with their friends, and their peers and those they can trust, as well as have professional counselors available."

Twenty-five additional counselors were brought in, and they were kept busy all day, Director of Health Services Betty Fitzpatrick said.

Attendance was already down Monday because it was one of several senior ditch days, and students were given the option of leaving with parents' permission. By the end of the day seniors Nick Romanyshyn and Nathan Vanderau reported only two to three students in their classes. "I'd say half, close to half the school is gone," Romanyshyn said.

Geraci said he had several conversations with Columbine students in his congregation Monday morning, and found they're showing increasing signs of emotional wear. "They're horrified. They're terrified. When will it end? Why us? What is happening in our community?"

Grill, who was closer to Kunselman than any victims of the massacre last year, said, "This is worse than Columbine" -- a term he used to describe the tragedy, rather than the school.

"Two weeks ago they found the kid in the Dumpster, now ... I kind of want to move."
salon.com | Feb. 15, 2000

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