For any school that thinks "it can’t happen here," this film will show that the potential consequences of school violence are just too high to ignore, particularly in a small town where the high school is a center of the community as well as the main social venue in kids’ lives. 

"April Showers" shows cascading consequences. From initial shock trauma to media stress and family disintegration, and then on to a chain reaction of emotional and spiritual crises. It’s a challenging experience, and ultimately a rewarding one — if you can turn to the person next to you and talk late into the night about a shared future. I’ve been at screenings where police officers, fire fighters, emergency medical workers — even SWAT team members — watch, slowly shake their heads, and shed a tear as the personal details of the teenagers unfold in "April Showers." I told one of them something I heard a Colorado congresswoman say: "Teachers today have to learn to better respond to this kind of incident, and stay calm when inside they’re falling apart." He answered, "Don’t think for a second we don’t feel the same way inside. This rips our guts out." 

"We went to schools like this one," he explains, "and now we have our own kids there, too." I told him, "Teachers need to hear that. So do students." 

It’s especially tough for responders to arrive at a scene like this. They feel the vulnerability of the school. It’s a "soft target," in the parlance of Homeland Security. When a school gets hit with a violent critical incident it’s a direct hit on the cornerstone of the community. 

This is why "April Showers" is starting to be used by school administrators in school safety training, and just last week I was copied on a request from the Sheriff’s Office of a major county in Colorado to use a dozen video clips from the movie in SWAT team training. Not that they were interested in just the law enforcement procedures, but felt that the film could also help officers understand more about recovery and prevention, and hopefully, better preparedness. 

I was a state senate aide working on school safety issues when "April Showers" came along. At the beginning of 2009, Colorado started getting ready for the 10th anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. The local sheriff’s office was apprehensive about the event. Would the media come in and again pick at the scabs? 

But then Andrew Robinson, writer-director of "April Showers," showed up with his film about survival, and what I saw this year was how he helped a growing movement afoot in Colorado to focus on the future of safer education rather than the unresolved grief of the past. And rather than promote his indie project as an auteur, he was more interested in being part of a larger conversation. As a result, he soon became a highly sought-after central voice in the national conversation about the Columbine anniversary. 

His interviews with the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, NBC, CNN, Los Angeles Times, FOX News, Associated Press, and others, had a group problem-solving quality to them. And then his engagement with younger moviegoers on Facebook, YouTube, and even his own blogs on CNN and his movie site showed how kids are connecting with this film in unexpected ways. For instance, students at the high school where he shot "April Showers" watched the finished film, created a mindmap of the issues they saw, wrote journals — and this led many of them to make new promises to themselves. They wanted to make a difference. 

So, although you may enjoy "April Showers" purely as a drama (with a tempo much like Oliver Stone’s in "World Trade Center"), I invite you to know that teachers, administrators, responders, lawmakers, parents — and teens — are taking to heart the movie’s themes and turning them into personal challenges. And they’re ready to use "April Showers" as a tool for change. 

In the words of a Boulder safety official, "If we ever show this movie to a community group, we sure as hell better have our act together, because when the lights go up people are going to have some pretty tough questions. And I hate to think of the egg we’d have on our face if we don’t have any answers." 

Post Contributed by John Simmons of School Safety Partners

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1. admin Says:
   August 7th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

   Stephanie Momose Wu (comment left on the April Showers Facebook page)

   The film needs to be shown as much as possible within the school system. A few years ago, when I was teaching middle school English, a student warned me not to be present on the last day of school. Although he didn’t threaten or give specific information, I mentioned this warning to our administration. They blew me off, and I was furious. This could have turned into a serious event? “April Showers” is a wonderful tool that the school system can undoubtedly use to make a difference. I hope administrators, in particular, use the film to begin a conversation with staff.

2. danmcclure Says:
   August 8th, 2009 at 6:43 pm

   Very powerful the effect this film is having on everyone. When it was developing in the film making stages it was easy to at times get caught up in the movie frenzy and lose sight of the strong message it presented. Now that it is all unfolding and spreading around the world it gives you a strong sense of satisfaction to know there are those good people out there that care, understand and are willing to do what it takes to make it right. Hopefully community leaders and citizens all will continue to make this grow with the intention of making us all appreciate what we have and create a world more safe and friendly. Andrew is to be highly commended for starting all this in spite of the fact he knew there would be much controversy. He took up the challenge and now we’re all better for it. He truly is living his philosophy of making each day count.

   Dan

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