The Denver school board’s newly released draft “Long-Term Safety Plan” will allow individual schools to decide whether to use school resource officers, so that way politicians won’t have to take responsibility for violent events like the recent shootings.
Afterall, it’s an election year and Auon’tai “Tay” Anderson, Scott Baldermann, and Charmaine Lindsay are all up for reelection on Nov. 7.
The final version of the draft plan offered by Superintendent Alex Marrero will be the subject of a couple of town hall meetings and pubic feedback before the final version is expected by June 23.
Read the full draft plan and provide comment through this link.
Despite criticism of the school board’s policy that educators should not be responsible for conducting weapon searches, which two deans were doing when a student shot them last month, that practice will continue.
According to Chalkbeat, the plan suggests having an unarmed security person or an armed DPS mobile patrol officer involved when searching for “a firearm or dangerous weapon.”
It’s not clear whether that means a school resource officer trained to protect against violence and school shooters, or the campus security they already employ.
All employees would be trained in emergency response procedures, which we find bizarre.
Aren’t employees already instructed on how to respond in emergencies? That seems like basic school safety 101. But if not, by all means add it to the list of stuff to do!
Interestingly, parents, staff, and students were surveyed about their top safety concerns, in which student violence heavily outweighed concerns about perceived fears of school resources officers.
And of course, no violence safety plan would be complete without talking to kids about sex.
The security draft includes plans to conduct “universal screening” to identify potential behavioral, emotional concerns or mental health risks, so the school board can adjust teaching for “targeted and intensive social-emotional and mental health interventions to support our student needs.”
“Along with these social and emotional skills, schools must also fold in conversations about race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, language and ability so that the conversation about (Transformative Social Emotional Academic Learning) takes into account the student’s fullest identities. It is recommended that schools do a deep dive into understanding how educators, students, and community can navigate conversations about race, sex, gender, ableism and other social identities in order to establish systems and supports that strengthen both adult and student Social Emotional Academic Learning.”
The school board’s safety plan is bullshit, and parents should be outraged … even more than they already are.
It also seems racist to us the board is suggesting that minorities are the problem, and only when they are taught to judge each other on the color of their skin, sexual preference and identity can they be tamed from engaging in risky, violent behavior.
Find more statistics at Statista
Here’s more from the school district’s “Long Term Safety Plan:”
CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE EDUCATION
Culturally responsive education helps the Denver Public Schools address school safety by helping schools establish a positive and inclusive school culture where students feel valued, respected, and safe. We believe that when students feel connected to their school community and have positive relationships with their teachers and peers, they are less likely to engage in risky behaviors or acts of violence. Culturally responsive education recognizes and celebrates the diversity of students’ backgrounds, which can help to reduce conflicts and misunderstandings that can lead to bullying, harassment, or other forms of violence.
Historically, our students marginalized by systemic inequalities based on race, ethnicity, language, ability or gender and sexuality, have not experienced curriculum and instruction that centers and celebrates their rich backgrounds, experiences, and cultural lineages. Traditional curricula have centered White, middle-class norms and narratives and positioned those above mentioned students as having deficiencies needing to be overcome and replaced. Our students have not seen themselves or their cultural ways of being honored in their learning experiences leading to a lack of a sense of belonging and psychological safety.
We have committed to radically transform curriculum and instruction to provide culturally responsive-sustaining learning experiences for our students.
It will be interesting to see if Denver parents of all colors, religions and genders are willing to forego real safety fixes to protect their kids in exchange for some cultural ass-kissing by school board politicians.