GVPanorama - He Was the Principal at Columbine. Helping Communities Heal Became His Life’s Work
GVPanorama - He Was the Principal at Columbine. Helping Communities Heal Became His Life’s Work
Frank DeAngelis turned his survivor's guilt into a mission to help heal
Frank DeAngelis at the Columbine Memorial in Littleton, Colorado (Benjamin Rasmussen; via The Atlantic)
While on the search for recent gun violence prevention news for our weekly "Friday Finds” feature, we often come across editorials, personal stories, or wider-lens articles that don’t necessarily fit into a “current events” window. With “GVPanorama” we will highlight some of these thought-provoking pieces.
As we continue our focus on the Columbine anniversary, we re-post this 2019 story from our colleagues at The Trace. It’s an intense interview with Frank DeAngelis who was principal at Columbine High School when the tragedy exploded on April 20, 1999.
After 35 years at the school, DeAngelis retired from Columbine and was soon tasked to head up the Principal Recovery Network (PRN), an organization that offers support to principals who’ve also survived a school shooting.
According to their site, “the PRN seeks to assist principals in the immediate aftermath of a crisis and well beyond. PRN members reach out directly to their colleagues to provide much-needed support, share the combined wisdom of their experience with the larger principal community through various outlets, assist schools during recovery, and advocate for national school safety enhancements and violence prevention programs.”