Was Columbine High School really lax on rules?

As I research this case, I have noticed that Columbine High School seemed to be very lax on rules. A few things I noticed:

1. A smoker's pit. It's 1999, and kids can still smoke on campus? My high school banned that way back in 1992!
2. The Columbine kids could leave campus at lunch, or seemingly whenever they wanted! Again back to my school in the early 90's, once you parked your car, you couldn't even go to it until school let out. And you certainly could not leave campus for lunch.  
3. Skipping classes - in the 11k and other things I have read, kids were talking about skipping class periods all the time. Was no one keeping up with attendance? My high school would call parents after ONE unexcused absence. No one skipped. And my school had 2000 kids as well, so it's not like it was some tiny school where the secretary had nothing better to do.
4. Finally, the cursing in the school projects! Eric and Dylan cursed all the time in thier videos, and assignments. And they were barely called out on it. I find that so strange!

So, was Columbine a really lax school, or was my school just really strict?

And would tighter rules on the kids have made NBK harder to pull off?

I spoke to my older brother a little bit about that. He graduated 4 years before me and I remember at our school we were not allowed to leave, we couldn't eat lunch outside etc.. and I told my brother about the smokers pit and stuff and he was really dumbfounded.I have a friend who is a survivor and I was telling him about her school and asking if he could leave and stuff when he was in high school, maybe things changed after he graduated, but nope! CHS was very lenient.

As far as the skipping Sue did mention in A Mothers Reckoning that she did once receive a recorded message saying Dylan missed a class. I was also baffled that kids could just go into classes and talk to their friends. There were a few stories in the 11k with a redacted name, that I always assumed was Chris Morris about him going into class to argue with someone...

I think tighter rules would have made it harder to pull off but with all the planning they were doing, I think they would have found a way.

1 and 4 seem the bigger ones. At my high school ten years later you could leave at lunch, and you'd get a response on the answering machine if you skipped, but they were automatic, so you could get one even if you had been there, or if you had skipped but got home first just delete the message.

But smoking on campus and cursing flagrantly in papers and projects would be a no go. Then again, this was after Columbine.

The whole county was fucking lax. Eric and Dylan were sent to a diversion program for breaking and entering combined with theft, football jocks got off with probation and no school suspension or disciplinary action against them for criminal offenses, it seems like nobody wanted to step up and be an authority figure.

QuestionMark wrote:

The whole county was fucking lax. Eric and Dylan were sent to a diversion program for breaking and entering combined with theft, football jocks got off with probation and no school suspension or disciplinary action against them for criminal offenses, it seems like nobody wanted to step up and be an authority figure.

Totally.
I remember how school changed post Columbine.
Everyone was so afraid that another shooting was going to happen, which I can understand, but it sucked for us students.

Things did die down a few years after, but I got to give a big middle finger to Eric and Dylan for making our middle school rules absurd .

QuestionMark wrote:

[...]  football jocks got off with probation and no school suspension or disciplinary action against them for criminal offenses [...]

Schools have even covered up rapes to protect their Chads. It's pretty normal for schools to let Chad get away with anything. Most of the female teachers want his thundercock anyway.

Columbine is the same as many public schools in the Denver area and the same as the high schools in Hawai'i i qent to when i lived with my dad.

Smoker's Pit was off campus technically, you definitely cant and couldn't smoke on campus even in 99.

The only difference with some schools is open campus might only be open to juniors and seniors. The schools with more students are more likely to be open campus otherwise lunch would be impossible. Ditching isnt allowed at Columbine but kids still do it. There's definitely consequences. Senior year teachers lighten up.

Lastly cursing, some creative writing teachers are less strict about that. Same with teachers for programs like ACE with struggling students (our ACE teacher at Columbine was laid back like that but she also taught us different more eloquent words to use and encouraged us to change our language) Its definitely not "allowed" but mostly teachers will call you out and ask you to change your language there's no punishment.

LadyStardust wrote:

As I research this case, I have noticed that Columbine High School seemed to be very lax on rules. A few things I noticed:

1. A smoker's pit. It's 1999, and kids can still smoke on campus? My high school banned that way back in 1992!
2. The Columbine kids could leave campus at lunch, or seemingly whenever they wanted! Again back to my school in the early 90's, once you parked your car, you couldn't even go to it until school let out. And you certainly could not leave campus for lunch.  
3. Skipping classes - in the 11k and other things I have read, kids were talking about skipping class periods all the time. Was no one keeping up with attendance? My high school would call parents after ONE unexcused absence. No one skipped. And my school had 2000 kids as well, so it's not like it was some tiny school where the secretary had nothing better to do.
4. Finally, the cursing in the school projects! Eric and Dylan cursed all the time in thier videos, and assignments. And they were barely called out on it. I find that so strange!

So, was Columbine a really lax school, or was my school just really strict?

And would tighter rules on the kids have made NBK harder to pull off?

I think a lot of the rules you've stated depend on the school district and location.
There was a "smokers pit" at my high-school, although it was just a patch of dirt where kids smoked before class. I think it technically was a few feet off of school property, but I never saw any faculty giving anyone problems for smoking close to the school.
I've heard of other schools having areas like this too.

My high-school would let you sign out for lunch if you were 18, but the district closest to me would let juniors and seniors leave for lunch regardless of age.

It does seem that Columbine was lax with skipping classes.
At my high-school, if you were in school and didn't show up for a class, you'd get maybe one warning, then detention or suspension depending on how many times you skipped. They'd also call your parents and inform them.

It seemed like the cursing issue ultimately depended on the teacher. Some teachers made comments about using harsh language, others seemed to let it go.
I know during my senior year the rules were more lax for us. The teachers knew we had graduation on our minds, and would let things slide.
Some would let you curse and never said a word about it, while others would make a huge deal about it.

So yeah, I think it depends on the state and the school administration in the end, as high-school rules differ a lot from state to state.
I know of schools where you can leave for lunch as a freshman, and during your senior year you only need to come to school for 3 classes, very lax rules.