DENVER — Denver Public Schools (DPS) parents and students got the chance to publicly weigh in on the district's safety plan draft for the first time Monday during public comment at the Board of Education meeting.
There has been a lot of pressure on Superintendent Alex Marrero and the school board to address violence at schools since a student shot and injured two deans at East High School in March.
The new drafted plan stresses the importance of collaboration, and includes input from both experts, students, employees and community members.
In the plan, Marrero recommended that the school board let all district-run high schools and 6th-12th campuses make site-based decisions on whether they want SROs back in the schools. This must involve community engagement, the drafted plan reads.
The plan also acknowledges how weapon detection technology could prevent firearms from ever unknowingly entering a school. It points to Baltimore Public Schools, sports arenas, courts and airports, where "low profile entry-based weapons detection systems" are set up. Staff personnel will need to manage the systems during peak times, the document reads. Like SROs, this would also be a site-based decision.
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First draft of DPS safety plan addresses SROs, weapons detection tech
Those who spoke at Monday's meeting say the plan needs to look beyond what happens inside schools.
“A lot of the people I've talked with — and me, myself — agree that it's a lot of the same stuff they've been doing. Saying it's an update of a plan, it kind of feels like a little bit of a misnomer to a lot of us students,” East High student Beckett Nelson-Gardner said. “Most of what we can do to stop gun violence doesn't take place in the school. It takes place up in front of legislators.”
Others came with suggestions on how DPS can prevent gun violence in schools.
“Provide ongoing education to families about the requirements on Colorado safe storage laws and where gun owners can obtain low to no-cost gun locks,” student Morgan Wilkens Dean said.
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Meanwhile SROs, which the district brought back after the shooting at East High School, are still a divisive topic.
“The presence of SROs creates anxiety amongst the entirety of BIPOC peoples. Therefore, it’s important this upcoming year we don’t walk into campus with guns in our schools when it is guns that is the issue,” student Veneno said.
DPS will gather feedback through May 21, a second draft will be released on May 26, and then feedback will be gathered through June 4. The plan will be finalized on June 23 and the DPS Board of Education will review it on June 30.
