Tomorrow will be a day filled with optimism at Granite Hills High School, not a day of mourning.
When Granite Hills High School administrators asked students, teachers and parents how they wanted to mark the one-year anniversary of the day when Jason Hoffman opened fire on campus, injuring five people before he was shot and arrested, all agreed they wanted to do something positive.
Students and teachers will dedicate a recently landscaped quad where students gather for lunch. Among those invited to attend is El Cajon police Officer Richard Agundez, who chased down Hoffman.
The shooting at Granite Hills High came less than three weeks after two students were killed and 13 other people were wounded in a shooting at Santana High School. At Granite Hills, a 16-year-old boy shot in the face and shoulder suffered serious injuries.
Hoffman, 18, was shot in the face and buttock. On Oct. 29, he committed suicide in his jail cell.
Granite Hills Principal Georgette Torres said the school has recovered from the shooting.
"It affected us greatly, but our students, our parents and our staff banded together," she said. "We really came out stronger."
Torres said the school quickly returned to routine after the shooting. Students' performance on state-mandated tests two weeks after the shooting did not appear to be affected.
The annual girls football game went on, and the school joined an international baccalaureate program.
The school's quad was re-landscaped last summer so the campus would look attractive when students returned to school last fall, she said.
"We're moving forward," Torres said. "We know if we can face something like a shooting, we can face anything."
The school has a psychologist and a social worker on campus through next year, paid for by a federal grant. An El Cajon police officer patrols the campus full time. Teachers and students have been trained to deal with hate and bias.
Granite Hills senior Roger Pollack agreed that students have recovered from the shooting.
"Students have healed and are moving on," he said. "They're not letting it stop them. If you let this person stop you, you are letting him win. You have to move on."
Fran Zumwalt, one of two teachers injured in the shooting, said students want to put the incident behind them.
"I think that they are determined to have their school back," she said. "For our kids, I think the book is really beginning to close."
Staff writer Susan Gembrowski contributed to this story.
Anne Krueger: (619) 593-4962; anne.krueger@uniontrib.com
