DPS previously had armed resource officers on campus until the board voted to remove them in 2020.
On Wednesday, two faculty members at Denver East High School were shot and transported to a local hospital. The suspect is reportedly a male student who was already subject to a safety plan that called for him to be patted down each day before entering the building.
It was during that search when the weapon was allegedly produced and the two faculty deans were shot.
During the height of social unrest in June 2020, the Denver Public Schools Board unanimously chose to withdraw armed student resource officers from all district schools. The action ended the DPS contract with the Denver Police Department, and within 12 months all SRO positions were eliminated.
But Marrero now pledges to bring them back. After the shooting, he announced Wednesday that he will direct armed officers to be positioned in Denver’s comprehensive high schools. This action will be taken even though he said it “likely violates” Board of Education policy.
“However, I can no longer stand on the sidelines,” Marrero told board members in a letter informing them of his pending action. “I am willing to accept the consequences of my actions.”
There were already calls within the community to return armed officers to system schools. East students and parents demanded action after a 16-year-old was fatally shot in February, and those calls unquestionably intensified after Wednesday’s attack on two faculty members.
In the February attack, Luis Garcia was shot while sitting in his car outside the building. His injuries ended his life earlier this month.
Marrero said two armed officers from the Denver PD will be stationed at East during school hours for the remainder of the school term. He declared his commitment to having an armed officer at each high school and to communicate with principals “to understand their continuing need and desire for this resource.”
At the time that the school board rescinded the agreement to have armed officers in schools, members asserted that the presence of police officers was detrimental to students of color. They also claimed that the officers were part of the school-to-prison pipeline.
Those feelings apparently changed with the latest shooting.
“The Board of Education supports the decision of Superintendent Marrero to work in partnership with local law enforcement to create safer learning spaces across Denver Public Schools for the remainder of the school year,” the board announced in a Wednesday statement. “In addition, we will continue to work collaboratively with our community partners including law enforcement and our local and state legislature to make our community safer.”
DPS board President Xochitl Gaytan did not respond directly to questions about where board members stand on the return of armed police to Denver’s public schools.
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, however, affirmed that he is on board with the decision. He said, “the safety of students and the public require deployment of police officers assigned to the high school for the remainder of the school year.”
Predictably, there was a different reaction within some political circles. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) tweeted criticism of gun violence and called for more “changes.”
Gun Owners of America responded to the vague call, replying that “actually, the school district removed school resource officers (a.k.a. good guys with guns in 2021. That’s a change that clearly DID NOT work. Let’s empower teachers & parents to defend our kids as well!”
The pro-Second Amendment organization is right. Stripping away the first line of defense only results in helplessness when trouble erupts. Students deserve to have a safe learning environment, and returning armed officers to guard the innocent is the right call.
