Denver School Board member Auon’tai “Tay” Anderson led the charge nearly three years ago to disband the school resource officer program to protect children from gun violence and kicked the officers off campus.
Yet gun violence continues to rise across the city and tragically touched East High School earlier this month.
However school board members are still too busy squabbling amongst themselves to pay much heed.
Parents and advocates have grown so frustrated with the lack of action from their elected school board leaders, they’re turning to Denver mayoral candidates asking for commitments to return police protection to school grounds.
Former school principals turned education advocates are also pleading for officers to be reassigned to schools through PEER programs to establish healthy relationships between law enforcement and students, reports Chalkbeat Colorado and Axios Denver.
And yet Anderson shrugs off their cries for protection with his usual nonsense claiming to Axios that school resource officers were somehow kept under lock and key and weren’t allowed outside.
“The situations that have transpired this week at Emily Griffith and East were not in Denver Public Schools buildings,” where school resource officers would have been stationed, Anderson said. “These were on our streets. The school board can’t make a reactionary decision to reinstate police officers where an SRO wouldn’t have been impactful.”
Right. The only reactionary decisions Denver School Board makes are the political decisions to yank police off school property when their popularity numbers drop to Joe Biden levels.
Ellie McGoldrick, a student at East High School told KDVR the violence is taking a toll on the student population.
“This is the first time I’ve really ever been scared to go to school,” McGoldrick said. “It just doesn’t feel safe anymore. I feel like my safety is in danger, and I don’t trust that me or someone I care about won’t get harmed.”
McGoldrick is not alone. Many students and parents addressed the city council this week asking members to do something about school violence.
The recent shooting has captured the attention of the Uvalde Foundation for Kids that formed after the tragic Texas shooting, prompting the group to launch its own investigation into what transpired at East High School.
The foundation director said he’s received 64 calls and emails from the community asking for their help, but when the foundation reached out to Denver Public Schools, they said thanks, but no thanks.
“Denver Public Schools is still committed to the healing of our East High School community and the full support of the ongoing police investigation regarding recent incidents of city violence near our campuses. We continue to assist as needed in the investigation by local law enforcement. At this time, Denver Public Schools and East High School are not in a partnership with the Uvalde Foundation, but we support them in their endeavors to protect young people and schools everywhere.”
Students at Denver Public School don’t feel safe going to school after the radical Democrat leftists on the Denver Public School Board removed Denver Police Officers from Denver schools.#copolitics https://t.co/L0ZRvAFvSf
— Mr T 2 (@GovtsTheProblem) February 25, 2023
Memo to Denver Public Schools: Listen to your students, parents, and residents. You’re doing a lousy job of healing the East High School community and assuring the Denver community at-large that students are safe in your schools.