Two Evergreen Excessive Faculty mum or dad teams raised considerations in regards to the availability of college useful resource officers within the hours earlier than Wednesday’s capturing that critically wounded two highschool college students, mother and father stated Friday.
At a Tuesday night time assembly of the Evergreen Excessive Faculty Father or mother Trainer Scholar Affiliation, a mum or dad questioned why Evergreen Excessive didn’t have a brand new faculty useful resource officer to switch its earlier officer, who had been away on medical depart for practically a yr. The varsity’s principal defined that Jeffco Public Colleges had “deprioritized” SROs for its mountain faculties, which might share officers between them, stated Cindy Mazeika, the PTSA’s president.
One mum or dad requested explicitly what would occur if there have been a capturing on the faculty.
“We as mother and father didn’t learn about this till someone requested about it on the open ground on the finish of the PTA assembly on Tuesday night time,” Mazieka stated.
Jacki Kelley, spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Workplace, informed reporters Thursday {that a} faculty useful resource officer was not on the faculty when 16-year-old Desmond Holly began firing his gun, critically wounding two college students earlier than he fatally shot himself. Deputies arrived on the scene minutes after the capturing started, Kelley stated.
The varsity’s full-time deputy was on medical depart, Kelley stated, and the hole has been stuffed by a number of part-time officers. The deputy assigned to the varsity that morning was dispatched to a close-by accident, which Kelley stated was routine and didn’t violate departmental coverage.
In an electronic mail Friday, spokespeople for the varsity district didn’t instantly reply to questions in regards to the mum or dad teams’ considerations. The district wrote that an SRO was assigned to the highschool, nevertheless it directed different inquiries to the sheriff’s workplace, together with how project choices are made.
Spokespeople for the sheriff’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to an electronic mail in search of remark Friday afternoon.
Within the district’s contract with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the company agreed to supply faculty useful resource officers to a dozen county faculties, together with Evergreen Excessive, “as staffing permits.” The district has contracts with varied cities to supply SROs at its different faculties.
The mother and father’ considerations come because the district adjusts to instantly paying for the officers. In April, the district discovered that it must start paying for 50% of the fee for the officers in the course of the 2025-2026 faculty yr, according to an April budget presentation. That meant a further $2.2 million in district funding, which was supplied within the finances.
In its assertion, the district stated its SRO program “is a degree of delight for our district, and we stay dedicated to sustaining it.” In survey data presented to the Jeffco faculty board in June, a majority of households, workers and college students reported feeling secure on the district’s faculties.
On Wednesday morning, shortly earlier than the capturing started at the highschool, Evergreen Center Faculty mother and father additionally raised considerations about SRO staffing, stated Sarah Aller, the pinnacle of that college’s PTA. In lieu of an SRO, workers on the center faculty bought new walkie-talkies for college personnel to speak, Aller stated. The PTA used $12,000 of its personal funds to cowl the acquisition.
Madison Mihalik, a senior at Evergreen Excessive, stated she emailed the district’s superintendent in September 2024 after at the least one empty shell casing was present in a college stairwell. In her 2024 electronic mail, which she supplied to The Put up, she wrote that the varsity had been focused by a risk the day earlier than the bullet was discovered and that she felt unsafe
The district and the sheriff’s workplace didn’t reply to questions in regards to the bullet incident, which each Mazieka and Aller additionally recalled.
Mihalik stated the varsity usually had an SRO current throughout her freshman yr, however that modified throughout her sophomore yr. In a brand new electronic mail she despatched to district officers hours after the capturing, she stated she and her classmates “hardly ever have a useful resource officer at our college.”
“Will we not need to go to highschool feeling secure?” she wrote.
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