Denver schools defunded armed police but public outcry brought them back

The decision to remove all armed police officers from Denver public schools started exactly as you might imagine in the summer of 2020.

In June 2020, amid a summer of protests over racial injustice following the murder of George Floyd, Denver Public Schools became one of the districts around the US that decided to phase out its use of police officers in school buildings. That push was fueled by criticism that school resource officers disproportionately arrested Black students, sweeping them into the criminal justice system.

I’m sure that school board vote felt good. It felt like they were doing something concrete to respond to injustice. And they did this based upon the now ubiquitous idea that black students are victims of a school-to-prison pipeline. But like many other places that defunded police (and those that merely thought about it) after the summer of 2020 problems increased.

A 14-year-old standing across the street from East high school was hit in the face by a stray bullet. That school year, 16 students were caught bringing guns to school, which set a record. Children and parents were afraid.

“You expect them to come in here and still be focused? How?” Wilisha Askew, the parent of an East High sophomore, said during one meeting. “They’re going through too much. My kid can’t sleep. I’m going through nightmares at my house right now.”

By the start of 2023 things were escalating. On Feb. 13, a high school junior named Luis Garcia was shot while sitting in his car outside the high school. He was taken to the hospital but eventually died from his injuries. He was 16-years-old and so far no one has been arrested for his murder.

Students marched to the state Capitol to demand more gun control including raising the age to own a gun to 21. But the sense of an immediate lack of safety at the school continued. There were several school lockdowns and the day students returned to campus another gun was found.

Just a month later, East High School would experience another act of violence, this time involving a student who had been expelled from another school for behavioral problems.

The shooting Wednesday happened at about 9:50 a.m. in an office area away from students, officials said. [Student Austin] Lyle was undergoing a search for weapons when a gun was discovered. The student then fired shots and “was able to get out of the school,” Denver police Chief Ron Thomas said.

Lyle, who previously was “removed” from Overland High School in Aurora over discipline issues, is required to be searched when he arrives at school every morning as part of what DPS officials described as a pre-existing safety plan because of his past behavior. But administrators had never before found a gun on him, police and school officials said…

daily pat-downs are rare, said Matthew McClain with the Colorado School Counselor Association, and Franci Crepeau-Hobson, a University of Colorado Denver professor specializing in school violence prevention.

“Clearly they were concerned,” said Crepeau-Hobson. “I can’t imagine they’d do that if there wasn’t a history of the kid carrying a weapon for whatever reason.”

The two administrators were taken to the hospital. One was released shortly after but the other underwent surgery and was in serious condition. Police released Austin Lyle’s name even though he was a minor because they were concerned he might still be a danger. Later that day his body was found. He had killed himself.

That shooting was the last straw for public schools Superintendent Alex Marrero. Marrero hadn’t been around when police were removed from schools. He came in from New York in 2021. After the Lyle shooting, he announced that for the rest of the school year two armed police officers would be stationed outside the school.

Marrero then headed to the same hospital where he had gone to see Luis and the 14-year-old boy shot in September. In a waiting room, Mason’s sister shouted at him. She said her brother knew it was a mistake to remove police from campus, Marrero recalled. She demanded to know what he planned to do now.

Later that day, Marrero sent a letter to the board, saying armed officers would be placed at Denver public high schools until summer. He acknowledged his decision contradicted the school board’s policy. But the shootings changed everything, he said.

“These events should not have happened on my watch or on this Board’s watch,” he wrote.

By this point, parents were not just scared they were angry. A Facebook group was formed to push for more safety measures. The parents of Luis Garcia, the 16-year-old who had been shot and killed outside the school, spoke up in favor of returning police to campus. But of course there was still opposition.

Board member Michelle Quattlebaum dismissed school district data showing overwhelming support among students and staff at high schools for campus police. She said she heard from Black students who had bad experiences with police and said they were afraid to share their opinion.

“This topic is too important,” Quattlebaum shouted, after board President Xóchitl Gaytán cut off her microphone for speaking out of order. “I will continue to press back on systems and structures of oppression.”

School board Vice President Anderson said teacher and principal support for school police didn’t matter because they wouldn’t be the ones who risked arrest. “The Black kids that share my skin will be arrested,” he said. “Those are the children I’m looking out for.”

But by that point it wasn’t the summer of 2020 anymore. The vote was 4-3 in favor of bringing back campus police.

But the back and forth over this decision isn’t over yet. A judge ruled last week that the Denver school board broke the law when it met privately and then announced the plan to put armed officers outside through the end of the year.

When the school board emerged from its executive session on March 23, members had a prepared memo that temporarily suspended a 2020 board policy banning armed police in schools. Board members voted unanimously to approve the memo without any debate.

The board fully reversed that 2020 policy last week, allowing school resource officers — or SROs — to return more permanently. Superintendent Alex Marrero is expected to release his final districtwide safety plan, which he has been crafting following the board’s directive in the March 23 memo, next week.

[School board Vice President] Anderson on Friday questioned whether the board — which was divided in its decision to reinstate SROs — would have done so if not for the memo. He also questioned whether the judge’s ruling would impact Marrero’s safety plan.

“I have a lot of questions,” he said, adding that members have not yet met to discuss the court’s ruling and that he believes the decision to appeal should be made by the board instead of district leaders.

So opponents of the decision to return officers to schools seem to be hoping this closed session by the school board gives them an opportunity to reverse the decision. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.