The killings at a suburban high school in Denver, Colorado yesterday shattered what had been a relatively placid academic year in which school officials across the country, alarmed by a spate of killings the year before, moved aggressively to prevent a repetition of school violence.
According to US Education Department officials and other experts, the level of school violence and the number of victims has declined as more school districts have instituted policies ranging from putting more law enforcement officers inside the schools to encouraging students to inform school authorities about friends who may pose a threat to their classmates.
Ms June Arnette, associate director of the National School Safety Center in Westlake, California, which monitors school violence from news accounts, said that before yesterday they had identified nine school-related violent deaths (including three suicides) during the 1998-99 school year. She said there were 42 violent school deaths during the 1997-98 school year and 25 violent deaths the year before.
Mr Bill Modzeleski, director of the Education Department's safe and drug free schools program, said the safety centre's figures were not comprehensive and that the real total of violent school deaths this school year may be higher. But Mr Modzelski confirmed school violence was declining.
What prompted a new emphasis on preventing incidents such as yesterday's shooting rampage in Littleton, Colorado were the shooting deaths of 12 students and the wounding of 44 others in highly publicised school assaults in Pearl, Mississippi, Paducah, Kentucky, Jonesboro, Arkansas and Springfield, Oregon, during the 1997-98 school year.
In response, Mr Modzeleski said, "almost every school reassessed what they were doing and developed a plan. Many schools had no plan prior to last year. Schools that prior to last year said `it's never going to happen here' realised that it could. We've seen many more schools with a crisis plan".
Ms Arnette said one clear reaction to last school year's shootings had been an upsurge in the number of schools that had installed telephone hot lines or "tip lines" and were encouraging students to inform authorities if they know of a classmate who has threatened violence.
"It's getting kids to talk about what they know," Ms Arnette said. "What happened last year was that the kids who did the shooting let somebody know what they were going to do and nobody believed it."
She said many schools were also increasing their "early warning" efforts by attempting to identify potentially violent students, putting more emphasis on conflict resolution programs and drafting detailed plans on how to deal with a student who threatened violence.
At President Bill Clinton's directive, the education and justice departments issued a guide last year on how to identify potentially violent students and prevent them from acting.
It was sent to every school in the country.
Mr Modzeleski said one major change this school year had been "better linkage" between the schools and mental health services in their communities to deal with problem students.
"There's more prevention, intervention and law enforcement," he said. "One thing we haven't seen is a rush toward more metal detectors and more security devices. I think there is a realisation that safe schools come from a comprehensive effort by the whole community."
Mr Kevin Dwyer, president-elect of the National Association of School Psychologists, said that while such efforts can reduce school violence, "we're not going to be able to catch every single youngster who has a problem and has access to weapons".
"Access to guns is a critical variable in this situation," he added. "You can't kill or wound 14 people with a knife."
"Every day that we don't have a shooting I feel quite relieved," Mr Dwyer said. And before yesterday's tragedy, he added, the 199899 school year had been "a very good year".
President Bill Clinton yesterday deplored the mass slaying of students at a Colorado high school and said the federal government would provide any assistance needed to deal with the tragedy.
"The prayers of the American people are with you," Mr Clinton said to the victims and survivors of the attack, in which as many as 25 persons may have been killed in what police called an apparent "suicide mission".