CLARION — The lives of the John-Michael Keyes family changed forever on Sept. 27, 2006, when a gunman killed their 16-year-old daughter, Emily, in a Colorado school shooting.

Keyes recounted the incident at the Wright County emergency management workshop for school staff and law enforcement officials in Clarion on Thursday. More than 30 people attended.

In 2006, John-Michael Keyes was a software developer for a private business. After the standoff, the family observed and checked computer web site information. They could see gaps in potential security for local schools. In 2009, Keyes began the “I love u guys” foundation.

“When our daughter was being held hostage with several of her friends,” he said, “she texted us ‘I love u guys.'”

Thus the name.

John-Michael Keyes; his wife, Ellen; and Emily’s twin brother, Casey; chose to shift from “blame and victimhood” to that of “victory.”

Platte Canyon High School shooting

The morning of Sept. 27, 2006, began like any other school day. Because of the rural setting, the school district shared a school resource officer, who left the school grounds mid-morning. The 54-year-old perpetrator, who had no connection with the school or the community, arrived at the school shortly after, entering the building just before noon. He entered the building with a gun and a duct-taped package, claiming it contained C-4 explosives. The size of the package could level the school building.

“The gunman fired several shots into the walls and took seven girls as hostages, then barricaded them all in Room 206,” Keyes said.

Law enforcement and school officials began to do what needed to be done to keep all the students safe and away from the situation. Over the next few hours, one hostage, then three hostages, and finally one hostage were let go. By mid-afternoon, Emily Keyes and another girl, a newly arrived foreign exchange student from Germany, were the only two left in the gunman’s clutches.

“It was during that time that Emily Keyes texted her mother and I ‘I love u guys,'” Keyes said.

Texting was a relatively new phenomenon in 2006.

More officials, including SWAT teams from across the area, kept arriving, fearing what could happen next. The situation escalated until mid-afternoon.

The situation ended with Emily Keyes being shot and the gunman being killed. She died later of her injuries at a local hospital.

After the standoff

The Keyes family chose not to blame anyone for what had happened.

“The law enforcement people and the school staff did everything within their control to protect as many people as possible,” John-Michael Keyes said.

The explosive package only contained a large amount of sand. But this was a new learning curve for the family.

How did they handle the media? Extra publicity? People who might want to exploit their situation? Or maybe Emily’s good name? They found law enforcement people who were experts in how to handle these types of difficult situations.

As time passed, their research and knowledge increased. They could see gaps in what school officials knew or could do; same for law enforcement personnel.

So “I love u guys” Foundation was launched in 2009. Keyes works to pass what he has learned to others around the nation. He emphasizes the need to make plans, write them down, and conduct drills. But he also emphasized, “there are no cookie cutter solutions to any crisis, as each one is different.”

School plans

Most schools have plans in place for crises and emergencies; recently the Iowa legislature passed legislation requiring every district to have such a plan.

“Meetings like ours today are valuable resources as we continue to work to help keep students, staff and our community safe,” said Robert Olson, superintendent of the Clarion-Goldfield-Dows Community School District.

While Keyes stressed safety, “it is important that our schools not become fortresses,” he said. “Our perpetrator’s intent was to damage our community as much as possible. We didn’t allow him to do that.”

During the course of the safety workshop, much information was given to those in attendance. Keyes offered age appropriate tips for free, from its web site: www.loveuguys.org. Several of his tips include: If the situation dictated locks, lights, and out of sight. Get into a room, shut off the lights, and get out of sight.

He stressed keeping the kids informed on what is happening.

“It doesn’t do any good to have the teachers in one huddle,” he said, “and the students in another one. Students need to be made aware of what everyone knows or needs to know.”

He also spoke of taking attendance, recording the time, and keeping the day as normal as possible if that is an option.

“If students need to move,” Keyes said, “take attendance and record the time. All that information might be helpful.”

Jess Toliver, superintendent of the Eagle Grove Community School District, said, “We want to maintain an open relationship with our local and county law enforcement people. We have two to three meetings like this each year. We continually learn things to tweak the plans we already have in place.”

Wright County Emergency Management Coordinator Jim Lester, who organized the day’s event, agreed with Toliver, “We want to continually reinforce the plans we have in place,” he said. ”We work with all three school districts in our county. There is always additional information which we can use to improve our safety plans.”