Parent Warned STEM Of 'Pressure Cooker' Culture Before Shooting

DOUGLAS COUNTY, CO — Five months before the mass-shooting at STEM School in Highlands Ranch, a school district board member received an anonymous phone call from a parent warning that the school's "pressure cooker" culture created an environment that could explode into "the next Columbine," according to news reports.

The parent said students were "suicidal and violent" and suggested that school officials were ignoring problems of illegal drug use, bullying and sexual assault, Reuters reported.

Two teenagers, ages 16 and 18, are accused of opening fire at the Highlands Ranch school on Tuesday, May 7, killing one student and injuring eight others.

The news agency reviewed a Dec. 19 letter from Douglas County School District official Daniel Winsor to STEM Executive Director Penelope Eucker.

In it, he said the parent's worries about the school culture and a possible Columbine-like shooting were "very serious" and asked Eucker to determine their "legitimacy, and “take any remedial action that may be appropriate.”

The county school board contacted the Douglas County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Human Services and asked for an investigation into the parent's concerns.Because STEM School is a charter school, the school board has less authority over its management, and the district superintendent has no authority over the STEM School's administration or teachers.

According to reports, Eucker responded by sending a letter to 2,800 parents denying the allegations and then filed a defamation lawsuit Jan. 17 in Douglas County District Court seeking to unmask the anonymous parent.

The school's lawyer told parents on Feb. 1 that the school said the "outrageous" accusations included embezzlement and teaching children how to build bombs, Reuters reported. “We want you to know the depth of this depravity and apologize if you find this as offensive as we did,” said the letter, as reported by Reuters.

The parent, contacted this week by CNN, stood by her allegations.

"When you don't listen to parents' concerns, when you don't support teachers' concerns, when you don't give teachers the kind of training that they need or the support that they need ... those are the elements that we need for the perfect storm, for something like a Columbine, or some kind of imminent threat to our children's safety in the school, whether it be a bomb or an active shooter, or a suicide," she said.

Eucker responded in a statement to CNN saying "the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our highest priority." She said "like any school with more than 1,800 students, we receive complaints, all of which we take seriously and investigate promptly."

Columbine High School is located about five miles northwest of the STEM school in Highlands Ranch. Twelve students and one teacher were killed in the April 20, 1999, massacre at the school.

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