For Ill. School, Shooting Is Familiar

(CBS)  In Winnetka, Illinois, pictures from a school shooting 18 years ago seem heart-breakingly familiar, CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reports. But you still don't expect it here.

The photos are from one of the first school shootings in U.S. history. Former CBS News correspondent Frank Currier covered the horrifying scene at Hubbard Woods Elementary that day.

In all, five children were critically wounded and one died. All were second graders shot in their classroom by a troubled local babysitter.

Donald Monroe, former Winnetka superintendent, says the memory is still "very painful."

Monroe says lives changed forever in a matter of moments.

"There is often a sense of where you least expect it when it happens it has an impact," Monroe says.

Back in 1988, school security often meant waving at the front office as you walked by. As you might imagine, that changed overnight in schools across the area. Still today even parents with kids in the district can't get past the front door without permission.

Security measures also include surveillance, limited access, and crisis plans. These plans are updated every time a school is caught in the crossfire.

"We really take the opportunity to review our crisis plan. How would we have handled this?" says Glenn "Max" McGee, Wilmette Public Schools superintendent.

It's a sad fact that in this district, officials say the first dollars they spend are on security.

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