Columbine Principal Still Feels Effects Of Shootings

DeAngelis Says This May Be His Last Year At The School

Columbine High School Principal Frank DeAngelis has found that the words he said two years ago still hold true: things will never go back to normal.

Columbine Parents' Reaction To Investigation Documents

Friday is the two-year anniversary of the April 20, 1999 shootings that left 23 people injured and 15 dead, including gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who took their own lives. DeAngelis, 46, is unsure whether he will remain at Columbine after the 2001-02 school year, when students who were freshmen during the shootings will graduate. "It's been very difficult on my children and my wife, my mom and dad," said DeAngelis, who has coached, taught and been an administrator at Columbine for 22 years. "I have to look at if staying at Columbine is in the best interest of my family." DeAngelis still cringes when he hears the starter's pistol at a track meet, a balloon burst or a helicopter hovering overhead. School administrators still meet monthly with new faculty to discuss issues related to the April 20, 1999, shootings. A recent meeting focused on the anniversary coming up this Friday. Counselors and mental-health workers have periodically advised the staff about how to help students and each other cope, DeAngelis said. "A counselor or a mental-health worker told me, `Frank, the thing you need to remember is that it's not a sprint, it's a marathon,"' DeAngelis said. "I wasn't going to wake up one morning, or people were not going to wake up one morning, and say, `Jeez, everything's back to normal."' DeAngelis is also among the defendants in suits filed by victims' families, who have claimed that several people knew or should have known about the gunmen's plans but failed to prevent the shootings. Previous Stories: