Jefferson County School District’s John McDonald starts the plans for additional security and vigilance at Columbine High School about mid-March every year, well ahead of the April 20 anniversary.

As JeffCo’s executive director for the Department of School Safety, McDonald has become a sought-after expert in the unfortunate area of preventing school shootings. He helped school districts nationwide that have had to deal with a mass casualty event at a school, like Sandy Hook or Parkland.

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Twenty two years ago, on April 20, 1999, two students shot 12 Columbine students and a teacher to death, before killing themselves. The event not only changed the school and community forever, it shaped McDonald’s career.

JeffCo hired him in 2008 to “design a modern day school safety program,” and its been used as a model nationwide ever since.

“Columbine is a unique and tragic story,” McDonald said. “It’s two sides of the same coin. On one side, this school is an amazing place of resilience – the climate and culture are incredibly powerful and as you walk through the school, you can feel it. It’s a sense of community and there’s a sense of strength and purpose in that school.

“On the flip side, ‘the other Columbine’ speaks to those who are fascinated and fixated. It’s that other side we’re constantly dealing with. People from around the world show up, and come to Colorado as a tourist just because of Columbine. … I’ve heard it called the Columbine contagion effect.”

People like Sol Paris, the 18-year-old who flew from Florida in 2019 just days before the anniversary, bought a shotgun and made threats on social media. All Denver schools shut down until she was discovered dead by suicide.

He said there’s two types of people really interested in Columbine: One who heard about it growing up and just wants to see the school; The other type is “fascinated and fixated” on the school.

“That type will travel across the country, or from across the world, to try and get in and touch the buildings to gain some inspiration or gain some satisfaction having been there … Sol Paris certainly wasn’t the first, and she probably won’t be the last.”

An expert on the psychology of school shooters Dr. Peter Langman linked more than 70 mass shootings around the country to Columbine copycats on his schoolshooters.info site.

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“We’re continually balancing the two Columbines,” McDonald said. “It takes an incredible amount of resources and effort by the school district and the (Jefferson County) sheriff’s office to make sure the school is safe.”

Colorado has seen 10 school shootings since 1999, representing 19 killed and 39 wounded, he said.

“I believe nine of them were within 35 miles of Columbine,” he said.

“This is becoming more and more of a challenge for school districts,” McDonald said. “If you have a school environment with a fortress-building mentality, how does that provide a welcoming environment to encourage learning? We’ve had to live with it for many years, but I don’t see it going away.”

McDonald’s daughter had her third birthday on April 20, 1999, and she later graduated from Columbine. His niece was in school that terrible day.

“I was a Columbine dad and we’re a Columbine family, we’ve lived in the neighborhood for years. So Columbine has close meaning for us,” he said.

Now the school community struggles with its past, and how it’s permanently tied to almost all mass shootings.

“It used to be called ‘going postal’ in the 1980s,” McDonald said. “Now it’s a ‘Columbine-style attack.’ It’s very hard to get off the radar when every time there’s a mass tragedy, the media brings that out.”

McDonald spends every April 20 with former Columbine principal Frank DeAngelis and some of the victims’ families.

“In Jefferson County, every decision we make from a school safety lens, no matter what, always goes back to 1999.”