Following Today’s Shooting All Denver Public High Schools Will be Staffed by an Armed Officer
Mar 22, 2023, 5:26 PM
Photo by Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The Denver Public Schoolboard voted unanimously in the summer of 2020 to remove 18 Denver Police officers from its schools and rely on the school district’s own safety officers, but following another tragic event in a Denver school today, that is changing.
Denver Public Schools (DPS) will add an armed officer to each of the district’s high schools, the superintendent said Wednesday, after a student shot two staff members at East High School.
In a letter to the Denver Board of Education, Dr. Alex Marrero admitted this decision goes against district policy. “I acknowledge this action likely violates Executive Limitations 10.10 (a district policy), which mandates that I ‘not staff district schools with school resource officers or the consistent presence of security armed with guns or any other law enforcement personnel,’” Marrero said. “However, I can no longer stand on the sidelines. I am willing to accept the consequences of my actions.”
This plan will stand through the remainder of the school year, Marrero said.
