needs also became a sensitive matter. En-
tire families were impacted by the tragedy
as younger siblings of the high school stu-
dents were emotionally affected. In several
instances, young children slept at the foot
of their parents’ bed for months. The lead-
ers of the Hmong community met with the
director of coordinated services. Among
the agreements was a ceremony conducted
by a Hmong shaman at the entrance of the
damaged building. This was performed on a
weekend to purify the site to enable Hmong
students to attend classes there once again.
The lessons learned are about the need to be
highly sensitive to the different ways people
in the community respond to tragedy.
A committee met with the families of
the four who were murdered. After months
of planning and preparation, four sites
were selected on campus for the erection
of family memorials. The families designed
the shrines. A plaque was fashioned on a
large boulder and placed near the entrance
to the school administration building com-
memorating the dark day. A year later a
Native American ceremony was held at the
school. The ceremony was selected because
it was neutral without conflicting with the
spiritual values of the participating fami-
lies. Once again, DeLapp managed the
press during the event.
Unexpected issues
In any debacle of this magnitude the un-
expected will occur, so district leadership
needs to stay on top of everything. It was
imperative, for example, for administrator
roles be determined beforehand. While the
superintendent and assistant superintendent
for instructional services were on the Lind-
hurst campus, the assistant superintendent
of human resources remained at the district
office to direct the ongoing functions of the
district and act as the filter to the deluge of
calls coming into the district offices.
In the aftermath of any tragedy, major
decisions will need to be made by district
leaders. Seeking input from others, espe-
cially experts, is critical. Once Lindhurst
High school was reopened, we thought
we could collect ourselves and refocus on
our mission of providing each student in
the district, each day with a meaningful
14
Leadership
Not every community
reacts to a trauma in the
same way. Community
rage, needing someone to
blame, was something we
faced immediately.
learning experience. However, this be-
came a challenge. Right after the school
reopened we started receiving daily bomb
threats. The FBI and the California High-
way Patrol worked with us. Each time we
evacuated the school and the sheriff ’s de-
partment brought in bomb-sniffing dogs.
No bombs were ever found. The CHP,
based on their experience, told us that the
threats would continue unless we refused
to evacuate the school. The superintendent
then made a difficult decision. After what
had occurred the school was on edge, and
to affirm that a bomb threat had been re-
ceived and not evacuate the school was a
huge risk. With the encouragement of law
enforcement, the decision was made not to
evacuate when the next threat was made.
The school was not evacuated and the
threats stopped.
Another problem had to do with making
the school safe, as many called for electrified
fences around the school or placing armed
guards at the school. Again, we listened to
the experts. There was a constant theme with
law enforcement officials that the answer to
preventing school shootings did not lie in
making schoo