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Police officers will stay at large secondary schools this fall, armed school district safety officers will help with weapons searches, and Denver Public Schools leadership will “comprehensively examine current student discipline practices.”
Those are among the details in the final draft of a long-term safety plan that Superintendent Alex Marrero released Friday in line with a deadline set by the school board.
In an interview, Marrero called the plan “an index of what we have to offer.” He implied that the plan would continue to evolve with the district’s needs.
“By no means do I want anyone to think this is one and done,” Marrero said. “It is the start of a larger conversation, not only here but also nationally.”
The board ordered Marrero to create the plan after a March shooting inside East High School. A 17-year-old student who was required by the school to be searched daily for weapons shot and injured two deans. The student fled the school and later took his own life.
The shooting spurred intense debate and community activism, including the formation of a parent group that called for increased safety, as well as backlash against returning police to schools. A divided school board ultimately voted to allow the return of armed school resource officers, known as SROs.
A previous board had voted in 2020 to remove SROs — a ban that was temporarily suspended following the East shooting.