Columbine High School may be torn down and rebuilt

Columbine High School.
(Image credit: CHET STRANGE/AFP/Getty Images)

Twenty years after the mass shooting at Columbine High School that resulted in 13 deaths, district officials are considering a proposal to tear down and rebuild the school.

The Jeffco Public Schools district in Colorado is seeking input from its community on whether to reconstruct the school in response to a growing culture of "Columbiners" who are fascinated by the shooting and its perpetrators, reports CNN. The school administration is considering asking for an estimated $60 to $70 million from voters to finance rebuilding the school, which would keep its name, mascot, and colors, per CNN.

"School shooters refer to and study the Columbine shooting as a macabre source of inspiration and motivation," district superintendent Jason Glass said in a letter to the community, per CNN.

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In April, an 18-year-old woman who authorities said was "infatuated" with the Columbine killings was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound after she traveled from Miami to Colorado threatening more than 20 schools, including Columbine High School.

Glass said a record number of people have tried to trespass on the school's grounds upon the twentieth anniversary of the shooting. He added most trespassers are merely curious, but that some have a potential intent to cause harm.

Glass said the proposal is in "the very preliminary and exploratory stages."

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Marianne Dodson

Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.