Columbine High School

Columbine High School
Address
Map
6201 South Pierce Street

,
Colorado
80123

United States
Coordinates39°36′14″N 105°04′27″W / 39.60389°N 105.07417°W / 39.60389; -105.07417
Information
Other nameCHS
TypePublic high school
Established1973 (1973)
School districtJefferson County R-1
NCES School ID080480000707
PrincipalScott Christy
Teaching staff87.17 (on an FTE basis)
Grades9–12
Enrollment1,697 (2018–2019)
Student to teacher ratio19.47
Campus typeSuburban
Color(s)Navy blue and silver
MascotRebel
NicknameRebels
Websitecolumbinehs.jeffcopublicschools.org

The library built after the massacre.
Columbine High School in 2006

Columbine High School (CHS) is a public high school in Columbine, Colorado, United States, in the Denver metropolitan area. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district.

In 1999, it became the scene of an infamous mass shooting, where 12 students and one teacher were murdered by senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before the pair committed suicide.

History

Columbine High School opened in 1973 with a capacity for 1,652 students. It was named after the surrounding community of Columbine, which in turn was named after the state flower of Colorado: the columbine. The school's first principal was Gerald Difford. There was no senior class during the school's first year; its first graduating class was in 1975. The school colors were selected through a vote by students at Ken Caryl Junior High School and Bear Creek High School, who were the first to attend Columbine High School when it opened in 1973.

The school has undergone significant renovations since it first opened: in 1995, with the addition of a new cafeteria and library; in 1999–2000, with interior renovations to the corridors, cafeteria, and former library; and in the early 2000s, with the addition of the new HOPE Columbine Memorial Library and a memorial on the site.

Massacre

Columbine High School was the site of one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern United States history. The shootings occurred on April 20, 1999, when senior students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold opened fire and killed 12 students and a teacher, and wounded 24 others, 21 of them by gunfire, before they both committed suicide in the library. The massacre made headlines both nationally and internationally, making Columbine a household name, and causing a moral panic in U.S. high schools. It was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history until it was surpassed by the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting on February 14, 2018, in which 17 people were killed.

After the shooting, classes at Columbine were held at nearby Chatfield Senior High for the remaining three weeks of that school year.

The school went through a major renovation in 1995, just four years before the massacre, adding a new library and cafeteria. After the shootings, Columbine completely demolished its library, located above the cafeteria, since it was the site where the majority of the deaths occurred. The site was then turned into a memorial ceiling and atrium; a new, larger library was built on the hill where the shooting began and dedicated to the memory of the victims.

By 2019, the school remained a "macabre tourist attraction" for those fascinated by the massacre, with hundreds stopped annually caught trespassing on the grounds or trying to enter the buildings. In June 2019, the superintendent of Jefferson County Public Schools proposed tearing down the school and rebuilding it more securely to lessen its "morbid fascination".

Attendance zone

Its attendance zone includes the Columbine CDP.

Notable students

1999 massacre

Perpetrators

Victims

See also


This page was last updated at 2024-02-24 03:21 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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