Columbine students will finish year Classes will be held afternoons at nearby Chatfield High School
By Jason Hickman
Camera Staff Writer
LITTLETON — Julie Brunaugh lost two members of her Spanish class in Tuesday's attack, but the Columbine sophomore is resolute about returning to the building for her final two years of high school.
"I'm going to have to get over the fear," she said. "I love that school more than almost anything else."
School officials also vowed Friday that the building would re-open in the fall, and that Columbine students would finish this academic year at nearby Chatfield High School.
Starting Tuesday, said Jefferson County School District Superintendent Dr. Jane Hammond, Columbine teachers will reconvene at Chatfield, and students will follow Thursday. Chatfield students will attend school for the first half of the day, and Columbine students will use it in the afternoon.
Hammond said the senior prom and athletic schedules will also resume, but with added security measures.
Hammond said she would talk with the district's school board about bolstering safety at upcoming events with additional personnel, but said metal detectors are not yet part of the plan.
She also said closing the school was not an option.
"We have not considered leaving the school closed, and we have not been asked by anyone in the community to not open it," she said.
Columbine Principal Frank DeAngelis met with several students Thursday evening, and said they were equally resolute.
"They told me, 'do not let them take Columbine from us,' " he said.
Friday afternoon neither official had been allowed into the building, as bomb squads and several four-person teams combed the school for undiscovered weapons and evidence.
"There are probably going to be literally thousands of items of evidence taken from the school," Jefferson County Sheriff's Sgt. Jim Parr said.
With an exhaustive examination of the building ahead, as well as extensive repairs of damage from explosives, gunfire, smoke and water, neither Hammond or DeAngelis could say how soon they expect to enter the school.
And while Columbine students say returning to the building won't be easy, they're determined to reclaim their school.
"I got out early, and I think I need to go back just to see the magnitude of what happened," said freshman Erik Sunde, who was in the school's cafeteria at the time of the attack. "It's going to be tough, but we're Columbine — we can do it."
Senior Alison Brock was one of about 60 students who locked themselves in a choir room when they heard the shots. Friday Brock mourned beside the car driven by slain student Rachel Scott, who was in Brock's acting class.
Brock estimated that about half of the school's approximately 1,800 students were exposed to Klebold and Harris at some point in the assault as the two allegedly moved from the parking lot to several areas inside the building.
"We're family, though, and we've got to stick through it," she said.
April 24, 1999
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