Columbine on steroids is how some of the local community are describing the planned shooting by four young men at Summerville High School, just outside the township of Tuolumne, in Tuolumne County. The four young men have not been named by the Tuolumne County Sheriff’s Department due to being minors although they have been arrested and it is presumed they are being held in custody in a juvenile detention facility out of county. Tuolumne county does not have a juvenile detention facility of it’s own.
Today on the first school day after the four alleged shooters were arrested and taken out of class, there was an assembly at Summerville High School, despite student attendance at the school being less than normal. During the assembly, Robert Griffith the Summerville High School Superintendent, Assistant County Schools Superintendent Cathy Parker and Eric Hovatter, who is the Deputy Tuolumne County District Attorney were in attendance along with Tuolumne County Sheriff Jim Mele.
Sheriff Mele made an opening statement which was certain to be met with sense of relief by the students and staff.
“At this time, I want to reassure the community that there is no further threat to the students or staff.”
Sheriff Mele also mentioned the families of the four students as being cooperative in the ongoing investigation into the incident.
One question which has been asked by several in this community has been: “What was different here? Why didn’t this turn into a Columbine massacre?”
The answer was actually rather simple and was explained by the respondents on the stage of the assembly, and My Mother Lode has an audio recording of the assembly at this link.
The short answer to why this incident didn’t include multiple deaths and injuries is this: Communication, and common sense both are simple and easy, and they have the primary benefit of working. The first communication occurred when students noticed something suspicious, and then spoke to a teacher. That teacher immediately contacted the school administrators, who the contacted the Sheriff’s office as fast as they could get to a phone.
All of those factors enabled authorities to find out the alleged plan before any sort of carnage had a chance to unfold. With four students engaged in a planned attack on such a small school campus, the affect on the community would have enormous in its reach. There would have hardly been a family in the county which was left untouched by an attack of this magnitude.
Sheriff Mele did suggest the intent of the male students was to “come on campus and shoot and kill as many people as possible at the campus.”
The investigation as mentioned above is ongoing and the students may eventually be named, if they go to trial for the crime they are charged with. The takeaway from this incident is the common sense approach that was used by the students.
The students trusted the faculty to listen, to engage and take action without fear of repercussions or ridicule. The staff at the high school were responsive to the concerns of the students and brought law enforcement on scene to find out what was going on, what the status of the plans might be and what did the young men have planned.
The end result is that instead of campus carnage to deal with, there is a lesson which can be learned by students and staff nationwide. Open lines of communication from students and common sense by school staff are worth more than Gun Free Zone signs, endless lectures on tolerance and teachers too busy to listen to their students. This reporter is immensely glad the story does not include the grisly details of a local massacre since he does know some of the students who attend the school.
